That is the legacy of Harlequin’s Matthew Ames, who was just convicted of fraud for running a ponzi scheme. Ames took £1.2million from the rich, from the poor, from widows and pipefitters. He was an equal opportunity swindler who dressed well, talked with such easy confidence that people immediately trusted him.

His product was topical, sexy in its own way: carbon credits, green investments, Forestry for Life. And didn’t he drive a Lamborghini? Wasn’t he also part of the Harlequin Resorts team? Isn’t his father successful? Just look at the people Matt Ames is seen with: Jack Charlton, and even James Middleton – brother of our future Queen.

“Out of the £1.6m that was invested across both companies, only £250,000 was ever returned to investors.

“The rest went directly into the pocket of Matthew Ames, funding his profligate spending habits.”

Ames used people with “impressive CVs” to promote Forestry for Life and give it a sense of legitimacy.

2,293 responses to “Harlequin’s Matthew Ames guilty of ponzi scheme fraud. Will father David Ames be next?”

Met him, an odious ducker and diver. 10 tears in clink (so sentence 20) then 6 months community service when out to repatriate him. Sequestrate all his assets for pay back and make him work off his debt to investors including harlequins money if a shortfall.

This from The China Morning Post :
But for two potentially life-changing events, businessman Matt Ames is one of the last people you would expect to have sleepless nights.

Last month, a day trip to the casino tables of Macau ended with the Sky Shuttle helicopter in which he was a passenger ditching in Victoria Harbour.

After that, as a tonic, the 35-year-old Londoner took his wife, four young children and their nanny to Mustique, an exclusive private island in the Caribbean.

The island – which boasts royalty, business tycoons and celebrities among its visitors – is hard to beat.

But just as Ames thought the sun-kissed beaches and Carribean charms of Mustique had done their work in helping exorcise the memories of his Hong Kong drama, fate brought them flooding back.

Ames and his family planned to leave their Caribbean hideaway on a private charter flight to connect to a flight to London.

Hours before they were due to leave they received a phone call asking if they would mind switching to a smaller plane. The Cessna 402C they were booked on had a suffered a technical problem.

Due back in Hong Kong for crucial business meetings this week, the founder and chief executive of sustainable investment company Forestry for Life couldn’t afford to wait, so he and his family took the smaller plane.

On his arrival in Hong Kong, Ames discovered that the seven-seater Cessna they were originally due to fly on had been sent to the tiny Caribbean island of Canouan on a medical evacuation mission but had crashed into the sea en route.

The wreckage of the ill-fated aircraft was found but the pilot, who was on his way to the tiny island of Canouan to airlift a road accident victim, was not. The accident victim also died.

Speaking in Hong Kong last week, after arriving for four days of meetings, Ames said: ‘I only found out about the Caribbean crash when I arrived here and that just made me want to go home because it just brought everything flooding back. I had about an hour’s sleep last night before I just woke up sweating.

‘The helicopter crash was bad enough. But the realisation that if we had taken that different flight out of Mustique, myself and my family could have been on the very plane which crashed and I wouldn’t have been here talking to you, has left me quite shaken.’

Ames, who is a qualified helicopter pilot with 80 hours flying experience, says the overwhelming need to know that the life jackets for him and his family are easily available and working properly on any flight are a direct result of his experience when the AgustaWestland AW139 ditched in the harbour on July 3.

He also spoke of his anger and disappointment at the way he and a friend whose life he saved, Nick Barclay, have been treated by the helicopter’s owners.

‘I’m a very, very level-headed person, I am very analytical in everything that I do. Even during the crash, I knew we had to get out, I knew what we had to do. Due to my experience as a pilot I knew at a certain point as events unfolded that we weren’t going to die.

‘Now when I get on a plane I check the life jackets are there. I haven’t told my kids what happened in Hong Kong because I don’t want to worry them. I don’t want them to think that when I go away they are going to think I am going to crash.”

Ames is at pains to stress that Sky Shuttle pilot Richard Moffatt did a great job of getting the aircraft down, but subsequent events have left a bitter taste. ‘Look, I did what any other bloke would have done in the situation, but the truth is, if it hadn’t have been for what I had done then someone would have died. They haven’t even had the common decency to get in touch or do anything.

‘There was a lot of press around the hospital and the hotel after the crash and we didn’t talk to them, we haven’t talked until now.

‘But since that day it has been like a wall of silence from Sky Shuttle. It’s not the money it is the principle. They’ve got enough money to get everyone sorted out, now they seem to be saying you’ll have to take us to court if you want any of your money back.

‘I was in a helicopter which I paid to go on, it crashed, I can prove that I was on it, end of story. Just pay me the money you actually owe me. I couldn’t help my BlackBerry getting wet, I was trying to save someone’s life at the time. My other mobile didn’t get wet, so I am not claiming for it.”

Sky Shuttle has declined to comment in detail, citing the continuing investigation into the crash and reiterating that there were enough life jackets on board. They say they are dealing with passenger claims in accordance with the law.

I found out about the Caribbean crash when I arrived … it just brought every thing flooding back

Dave, Carol and Dan Ames are fully aware the spotlight of the SFO / Essex Police is firmly on them.

The similarities between father and son and indeed mother are uncanny.

In 2005 Carol Ames sacked a very close family friend, a neighbour and close friend of Carol’s after the friend discovered anomalies in the books of “Loans Made Easy” (Information has been passed on to the authorities).

The neighbour took an action against Carol and Loans Made Easy but was settled out of court and surprise surprise was the subject of an NDA.

In 2006 Ames held an EGM in St. Vincent and with the assistance of Mr. Commissiong had Mr. Ferrari and Mr. Manning removed as directors of the company then known as Man Investments, now known as Harlequin Property SVG Ltd.

The EGM was held after Mr. Commissiong discovered that Mr. Ferrari and Mr. Manning were looking to oust Mr. Ames from the company over fears that Mr. Ames was acting in an illegal manner towards his investors.

Mr. Ames managed to oust Mr. Manning and Mr. Ferrari with the vote of Mr. Man and Mr. Commissiong ( Company Secretary ).

In early 2008 Mr. Royd Smurtwaite and his company Ridgeview were suddenly sacked by Ames from the Buccament Bay project.

The reason Ames gave was that Ridgeview had misappropriated funds from Harlequin. Yet Ames was advised not to take legal action.

In September 2008 Ames sacked Alan Bell the first VP of Harlequin Hotels and Resorts. Again Mr. Bell was accused of fraudulent activity but again no action was taken.

In 2009 Simon John Terry joins Harlequin as in house solicitor.

In 2009 Hazel Barr Harlequin’s compliance manager appointed as a result of “Operation Orange” and on the recommendation of DLA Piper resigns.

In 2009 Ames takes DLA Piper to court alleging that DLA Piper were over charging him. DLA Piper had earlier established a clean up operation within Harlequin code named ” Operation Orange”. DLA Piper were very concerned that the SFO could come kicking in the door and seize incriminating documents. As a result “Operation Orange” was set up as a cost centre so as not to arouse any suspicions relevant to payments being made to cover costs associated with cleaning up the Harlequin mess.

In 2009 Oasis walk away from Ames and Harlequin with Oasis threatening to sue Ames for breach of contract.

In late 2009 Ames threatens to sue the Guardian Newspaper over an article describing Merricks as a dust bowl. Ames presents the Guardian Newspaper with forged and false documents on the status of the Merricks resort and on the back of these documents the Guardian agrees to settle.

In June 2010, Desire Hotels a US hotel management company charged with managing the opening and operation of the Resorts resign amid a dispute over payments and concerns over the liquidity of Harlequin.

In June 2010 Wilkins Kennedy resign acting for Harlequin citing issues which had been brought to their attention and which were of serious concern to Wilkins Kennedy.

In June 2010 Ames fired ICE group accusing Mr. O Halloran and others of fraud.

Mr.O’Halloran threatened to seize the site, Ames in turn used forged documents in grounding affidavits to obtain Injunctions against ICE Group and Mr.O’ Halloran. ( It is believed these forgeries are now the subject of Irish Appeal ).

( It is also very odd that despite Ames claiming that no drainage, power or water infrastructure etc had been installed and that the resort was poorly built, Ames managed to open the resort within 5 weeks and it survived a major hurricane two months later with minimal damage). A truly remarkable feat by Ames.

In 2010 Ames sacks Desmond La Hue, CFO for Buccament Bay who had worked for Harlequin for less then a year. Desmond La Hue was accused of……. yes incompetence and accounting fraud.

In 2010 the recently appointed CFO of the Harlequin “Group” of companies. Mr. Michael Slade resigns from Harlequin after just 6 months in his role.

In November 2010 Ames pays for two senior executives of RLB to travel from the UK to Buccament Bay with a view to RLB taking over the construction related activities of Harlequin. The two senior executives spend a week staying at the Buccament Bay resort before declining to work for Ames. The main concern of RLB was Ames’s inability to fund the project.

Garreth Ronan VP of Harlequin Hotels and Resorts subsequently (and most probably as a result of RLB’s refusal to work with Harlequin) implicate RLB in the O’Halloran fraud case in Ireland.

In 2011 Ames sacks construction company Krauss Manning having tried to poach some of their senior staff originally.

In 2011 Adela Chalmers is appointed CFO of the Harlequin “Group” of companies. She is also a director of “Baker Clarke Partnership”

In 2012 Ames fires another VP of Harlequin Hotels and Resorts and former GM of Buccament Bay Mr. Mark Sawkins. Ames was channelling Harlequin funds through Mr. Sawkins personal bank account in Scotia Bank in St. Vincent. Sawkins received a number of warnings on the issue from Scotia Bank who threatened to close his account if the practise of channelling Harlequin Funds through his personal account was not stopped.

In early 2012 Dave and Carol Ames meet with an insolvency practitioner with a view to liquidating HMSSE.

They are however advised that by doing this the books of HMSSE would be open to scrutiny by a liquidator and possibly the SFO and other investigating authorities.

It was also explained to them that they could not just axe HMSSE, the inter company debt situation would cause the ultimate liquidation of the RDC’s. Carol and Dave chose to appoint Shipleys LLP as administrators a year later.

This at least would buy Carol and Dave 12 a further 12 months. * This is where the trust appears to come into play. ( see below ).

In 2012 Ames sues Portvale football club.

In 2012-2013 Ames claims that Harlequin / BDO appointed an “Independent” firm of accountants ” Baker Clarke Partnership” to account for all investors funds and Ames states that ” Baker Clarke Partnership ” have accounted for all investors monies.

In 2013 BDO resign because they claim Harlequin and the Ames family were not willing to cooperate with them.

In late 2012 Ames sacks Procure It Direct and its principal Andy Smith. Ames again accuses Smith of theft. Smith had been working with Ames from 2010 and was even appointed the CEO of Harlequin Developments, the company Ames established to complete the construction of the resorts.

In 2013 Carol and Dave Ames appoint Shipleys LLP.

In the intervening period Shipleys LLP have stated that the directors of HMSSE, Carol and Dan Ames have been uncooperative with Shipleys LLP.

A report on the conduct of the directors of HMSSE has been forwarded by Shipleys LLP to The Corporate Investigative Branch of the UK Government.

An application has been made by a number of journalists to have the contents of the report made public under the data protection act.

Shipleys LLP have also appointed a firm of London solicitors for the recovery of some £160,000.00 taken illegally by the Ames’s from the proceeds of the sale of a property in Dubai.

* The survival of HMSSE and the survival of the Harlequin RDC’s is directly linked.

Given the debt burden being carried by HMSSE, without a restructuring or writing off of the debt, HMSSE and the RDC’s would fall into the hands of the liquidator.

One wonders, what with the timing of the administration, as to when Garreth Fatchett hatched out the trust plan with Harlequin.

The trust plan in a perfect world might work, where all of the assets of Harlequin were to be placed in the trust. This would still leave investors looking at a potential loss but the losses could be far less then what investors are currently facing.

But Mr. Fatchett has not to date stated what assets are to be placed in the trust nor the value of these assets.

It is also apparent that Mr. Fatchett has carried out little or no due diligence on any of the other resorts with the exception of Buccament Bay. A trust for example is not recognised under Dominican Republic Law.

Mr. Fatchett would have to ensure the assets being put into the trust had no previous / outstanding encumbrances. Taking Mr. Ames’s word for it is just not acceptable.

Another issue raised by a number of posters here and on the RL site is the issue of the legality of the trust in the event of a liquidation.

A liquidator could and most certainly will challenge the validity of the trust. Mr. Fatchett apparently does not wish to acknowledge this issue, having stated in the past that ” HE DOES NOT BELIEVE ” that a liquidator would challenge the trust. He provides no precedence nor facts to back up his belief.

A source ( unverified because they are unwilling to go on record ) has stated that the alleged finance from a Middle East investor has been negotiated by a Mr. Mark Coggle and Mr. Stephen McConaghy who own a company called Blue Boar Consultancy. The company was established in June 2013, its registered offices are located at an accommodation address in Chelmsford in Essex, with an office address in Barbados. There are no fax or phone numbers available for this company.

Mr. McConaghy is currently employed by GSK in the Middle East as a project manager with Mr. Coggle having worked for Harlequin in St. Vincent to 2012.

Yet Blue Boar Consultancy claims it has $700 million + in funds available to it to invest.

Mr. Coggle has acknowledged that he is negotiating the finance on behalf of Harlequin. He further states that no letter of intent has been issued and even if one were to be forthcoming it carries no weight legally.

He says he has provided Mr. Ames with a letter expressing an interest to provide finance but this is not binding in any way. He believes Mr. Fatchett may have misunderstood the letter by calling the expression of interest letter a letter of intent.

Adela Chalmers isn’t a director of Baker Clarke Partnership. CIB is the Companies Investigation Branch, not “Corporate Investigative Branch”. So – 2 for 2 loads of twaddle or inaccuracy. Doesn’t bode well for the rest of the inane diatribe, does it?

Anon 8:11 That was an amazing summation. However I believe that
Kraus-Manning and PiD both QUIT within a week of each other in
July 2012. Admittedly in the scheme of things a very minor point
but something that a pathetic obsessive like TSG will harp on for weeks.
PiD did leave an employee with H-Hotel Design Studio for a few weeks
after that. Which makes me wonder just what is the David Campion
connection today.

TSG your arguments are something I would expect from Ames in a court of law. Would you not be best suited to using your brilliant mind in analysing the prosecution files when the are served on Dave, Carol, Dan, Simon Terry, Dan Dalligan, Simon Taylor, Katherine Manderfield or Woller. You can check all the witness statements for grammatical errors, who knows the case could be one or is it won on a capitalisation error.

If we are striving for accuracy the word to describe things connected with Harlequin is bollocks, not bollox.
And to be even-handed, Blue Boar doesn’t say it has 700 million to invest, it says that one of the services it can provide is funding of projects from US$ 1 million to US$ 700 million+; that means “arranging” the funding, not having it in the bank.
Please do not take this as support for Blue Boar as their services offer looks like bollox.

Leonardo Da Vinci was an painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and anatomist.
From the list of services on the Blue Boar website, they seem to be similar polymaths.
I suspect they rely heavily the work of others and they manage the process.
But what do I know? Perhaps they are Da Vinci reincarnated.

It sounds like my idea of what Crozier actually is — a legal
consolidator/packager/marketer. All perfectly respectable in
a Keynesian sort of way. Come to think of it RL/Fatchett isn’t
that far removed either.

@anon 10.59. No it’s not, I’ve been at the pictures all night, idiot. However only Paddy in his post of 8.11 would spring to the defence of the drains fiasco. So Paddy why not come out, expose yourself and stop hiding behind the “Anon” tag. Even Ralph was better than that.

@Anon, I haven’t mentioned Joe for several months. You really are good at make believe arnt you. “Mouthing off again”? Must be reading your own posts I guess. Just mind how those cats go on your keyboard. How’s the rented bungalow?
@Anon 1 I only comment on things that directly affect me, and the MA trial has not. Now Paddy, Newman, Erica they do directly affect me.

Funny he has nothing to say about Matt Ames, says Matt’s actions did not affect him. Odd how does he know. Matt was sales director when Storey bought his unit. A convicted fraudster, the jury did not believe a word he said. They convicted him. So why should we believe that he only got 750k in commissions. Maybe he got millions. Maybe he stole millions. Maybe this is what brought Harlequin down.

Following several months of diligent work, the first completions at Buccament Bay Resort are expected to be finalised in the next two-to-four weeks. Harlequin is ready to complete on the sale of property, but the aforementioned timeframe is dependant on the speed at which solictors representing investors can complete their processes.

We look forward to transferring title to purchasers that are able to complete and realise their investment. This will prove that we have fulfilled the promises made to the first purchasers and that the Harlequin model can succeed.

TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award

It was announced in January that Harlequin Hotels & Resorts’ flagship hotel, Buccament Bay Resort in St Vincent & The Grenadines, has won the TripAdvisor 2014 Travelers’ Choice Award for “Best Luxury Hotels in the Caribbean”!

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The Travelers’ Choice Awards are given to the hotels that have received the most positive reviews by guests – the most important judges of all. At the time of writing, Buccament Bay Resort boasts 89% positive reviews, which total over 400.

Bookings increases in January

Following a tactical marketing campaign, bookings for Buccament Bay Resort and blu, St Lucia increased significantly in January compared to the same period in 2013. Bookings for blu, St Lucia were particularly impressive, almost tripling from last year.

Health & Safety thumbs-up after Christmas storms

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Following the tragic, freak storms that assaulted the Caribbean over Christmas, Buccament Bay Resort has successfully passed independent health and safety inspections by two of the world’s leading long haul operators.

The storms saw a reported 15inches of rain fall within 24 hours on St Vincent & The Grenadines, St Lucia and Dominica, causing flash floods and landslides that claimed at least 22 lives, including a dear and valued member of Buccament Bay Resort staff who was on her way home from the Resort when the storm hit.

The Resort experienced a small amount of non-structural damage in the storm; however, under the leadership of the excellent management team, it was cleaned and restored to normal operating conditions within just a few days and continued to receive excellent reviews on TripAdvisor.

Buccament Bay Resort featured on ITV’s Lorraine show

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Buccament Bay Resort featured on ITV’s Lorraine show from Monday 6th to Thursday 9th January and Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th January 2014.

Three lucky viewers of the British TV network’s morning show won a stay with Paul McKenna at Buccament Bay Resort to help them fulfil their new year resolutions. You can see a clip at the link below:

On December 30th, Mr Ames attended the official handing over ceremony of the passenger terminal building from the developers to the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr The Hon. Ralph E Gonsalves.

We have been informed that the airport and runway will be operational from approximately June 2014, with the first international flights from the UK and North America due to arrive in November 2014. Details of the major international airlines that will fly to Argyle International Airport are due to be released in March/April 2014.

The new airport will allow direct transatlantic flights to the island for the first time and we fully expect it to greatly increase the interest in Buccament Bay Resort.

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Buccament Bay Resort opening new facilities

The resort’s new beach bar, Murphy’s, has been opened and other facilities are currently under development, including a conference centre, which will be ready for an important event later this month (details to be revealed soon), and new homes for restaurants Bamboo and Safran on the water front village.

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Trust update imminent

A significant update on the Harlequin Investment Trust will be sent out within the next week. Needless to say, work and progress continues behind the scenes.

@various Anons and Anon 1. You really don’t have a clue what you are talking about. Tell you what make a complaint to the SFO and Essex Police about my “so called involvement” . Now either put up or shut up. You are unable to substantiate any of your claims above so stop clogging up this thread with rubbish, you pathetic anti HP troll.

How remiss of you Paddy in your equivalent to War and Peace above you don’t mention the fraud of Newman and MacDonald, highlighted by the summing up of the judge in Ireland. You don’t mention that Newman was forced to resign from WK, that he has had to sell his house in Bray to pay his legal bills. Of course if these allegations are not true then you have my details, sue me. Go on I dare you! Of course the interesting thing is how much notice will the SFO take of the evidence of fraudsters? Very reliable source of information I’m sure.

@BS Exactly. It was simply a civil case in which the business interests of two companies were being tested in front of a Judge. Unlike a more recent criminal fraud case in which the Crown has seen fit to protect its citizens by bringing charges.

Storey, those guys could be guilty of fraud or any other crime. They did not set up this scam, they did not defraud investors of 400m pounds by outrageous claims of returns and then squander the lot. This was done by David Ames and Harlequin, and it was done years before an Irish builder came onto the scene. You are comical, and of course are expected to do your paid job of defending the indefensible. Your existence is rather sad, but reflective of the Harlequin approach – ignore all the obvious facts that point to the Harlequin fraud by deflection.

Jon Austin did a superb job with Matt Ames. We must also remember that Jon Austin also interviewed Terry Potter of Harlequin along the same vein. Terry Potter was sacked shortly after Jon Austin exposed the practices within Harlequin.

Im sure like in the Matt Ames case he passed on his findings to the relevant authorities.

@WUSFO. Believe me I have no “special deal” it’s all in your head. Maybe you just need to think. Full stop.
@Anon (various but the same person) my changing our tune now arnt we? All the lies from your rants of last night. Guess the effects of the booze has worn off and you now realise what a prat you were last night. Of course Paddy, Newman, MacDonald cannot now be seen as reliable witnesses for the SFO and Erica has withdrawn her support. Where does that leave you.

If DA losses the appeal it will not change the judges opinion that this was a fraud perpetrated by the gang of three. I have already had the police knocking on my door. That was to tell me about the numpty that decided to try and intimidate me with silent phone calls. Of course he then denied it and blamed his wife. My goading? I suggest you read the postings of a drunk last night. What an idiot. Oh and by the way anew,an admitted himself he complaind to the SFO on 3 occasions.

It was announced in January that Harlequin Hotels & Resorts’ flagship hotel, Buccament Bay Resort in St Vincent & The Grenadines, has won the TripAdvisor 2014 Travelers’ Choice Award for “Best Luxury Hotels in the Caribbean”!

BB did not win THE award for “Best Luxury Hotels in the Caribbean” as stated by Harlequin…they won an award…in fact they were ranked 18 of the top 25 winners in that category. Why do they bend the truth?

Also from 6.45 am…”We look forward to transferring title to purchasers that are able to complete and realise their investment. This will prove that we have fulfilled the promises made to the first purchasers and that the Harlequin model can succeed.”

In Sept 2012, Ames said in a newsletter that they were then in the process of delivering titles to investors at BB, but 18 months later, not one has been delivered.

@Worried investor aka Erica, oh dear you have been caught out with your stupidity, I don’t have false teeth. You cannot even make up an e mail without it being stupid. No point in calling you a moron, it’s just too obvious.

Dear sir, we would like to bring to your attention some very serious concerns pertaining to your ongoing investigation of the Harlequin group of companies.

As you are aware Barbados Free Press has hosted a large number of forums with reference to Harlequin and its associated companies.

There has been much heated debate on the BFP forums.

However one particular poster claims to be a Robert Storey from Nuneaton. He also claims to be a witness for the Serious Fraud Office.

Over the past few months he has, in his many posts referred on occasion to the ongoing SFO investigation of Harlequin.

He has made some alarming claims about individuals who he alleges have made witness statements to your officers.

He has stated that the witness statements from certain named witnesses are no longer being considered by the SFO because the credibility of those witnesses, according to Mr. Storeys claims on BFP, have now been undermined.

We would like to know how Mr. Storey would have been privy to any potential witnesses providing confidential information to the SFO

Mr. Storey has intimated that much of the information has been provided to him by a Mr. Joe Hopkins, a case officer employed by the Serious Fraud Office.

This is a very serious matter and needs to be investigated. Mr. Storey appears to be suggesting that the confidentiality of offering evidence to the SFO may not be maintained by your officers.

We would hope that you would look into this as a matter of urgency.

We understand the serious nature of the investigation into Harlequin and have provided you with screen shots of Mr. Storeys posts with respect to your ongoing investigations.

@open letter, I’ve just found Joe’s direct e mail address. Do you want it rather than send your childish e mail to a general e mail address. Just e mail me, you know the e mail address that Erica, the daft mare, posted on here some months ago, and I will send it to you. By the way, no sign of the plod yet.

Don’t forget to ask them about witness intimidation. Now run along and change the record. It is sooooo boring now. The sooner you realise that your intimidation tactics are not working you may get a life.

Strange no mention of her sisters death online…… look at trip adviser.

7. Re: Merricks Resort – Oh Dear
18 May 2013, 12:52
CPC Worldwide is run by a woman who faces many charges in Spain for running away with 2 million plus euros of ex pats money and is now behind this company. Her real name is Audrey Dixon and she now uses the alias Elizabeth Crozier. Check her out online. This company is meant to be retrieving money fro investors in Harlequin and yet is run by a complete scammer. You investors need to know the truth behind this company. Check her out on google. Former owner of Oasis Spanish Properties. If she ever returns to Spain she faces 11 years in prison.

Off down the pub then pick up the Indian. How ironical that people can spout so much bile on here. Perhaps they are short of subjects/intelligence to talk about serious subjects. What what they do now I will be away for a while. Keep the cat off the keyboard perhaps especially as the Walton on Thames warrior is back on line.

Looks like BS Bob has come into some money recently. Pictures yesterday, pub and curry tonight. Must have received a payoff from the Basildon boys. I bet it’s cash in hand. Seeing as he is on the social it can’t go in his bank account can it ?

Ames didn’t turn up for his own sons case he is hardly likely to rally for one about himself ….. Ames has no intention of paying back any money . His get out of jail free card has been lovingly prepared by Fatchett .

No Bob is protected by Joe Hopkins of the SFO. Teflon Bob. Remember ’twas the SFO who approached Bob for a statement. So Bob claims.

One wonders how many more lives and careers will be ruined before Ames is finally arrested and charged.

It looks like Joe Hopkins is now in the firing line.

Bob is too stupid to understand what he has done. Fatchett might tell him but he too has a whole heap of hurt barreling down the tracks towards him.

Funny Fatchett will end up being reported for his actions, another career tainted because of involvement with the Ames family. But in Fatchett’s case it could have been avoided had he done the most basic of due diligence.

Funny how the firm of Williams and Williams in SVG was used to produce a document demonstrating the good character of Matt Ames in his UK trial.

@view from the hill, you see you have just proved what a stupid idiot you are. Now let’s see if you can follow this.
1)the HP newsletter says HP expect to FINALISE the completions in 2-4 weeks
2)I said the PROCESS is expected to take 3 months.
Now do you understand the difference between process and and finalise? Obviously not, the concept is just too difficult for you.

Mr. Storey could you please tell me as a purchaser in Buccament Bay do you believe the trust is the best option. If I sign up to the trust and the trust is formed does that mean that finance will happen and the resorts all of them will get built ?

It seems that it is Harlequin that have the problem of understanding dates and times for completion…after all Merricks, and the two resorts in Dom Republic and one in St Lucia were supposed to have been built years ago, and they not even been started. BB, is not even half finished.
BTW, the signboard on the abandoned construction site of the eyesore H Hotel in Barbados still says it will be ready in 2013!
What a bunch of jokers! The Ames family could not have found a better name for their operation.

I can see their strategy for attacking CPC despite their moral compass being totally off beam.

But to attack the SFO by virtue of insinuating that an officer of the SFO is passing on information with respect to potential witnesses is absurd in the extreme, and although it will ensure that the officer in question will now face an internal investigation as is protocol within the SFO, it will do nothing more then commit that officers colleagues to ensuring that matters are concluded as a matter of urgency in potentially bringing at least preliminary charges against the Ames family and others within Harlequin.

The strategy used by Harlequin against any perceived foes has not changed. What has changed is the arrogance which Harlequin supporters are now demonstrating towards the work of the investigative authorities.

An award winning BBC producer was forced to resign because he over stepped the line on exposing the truth about the activities of Harlequin, the Government of St. Vincent and the Ames family.

His only crime was to expose Harlequin and the Ames family for what they are, in an attempt at preventing more people from loosing all they have.

Now similar tactics are being used by Harlequin against an investigating officer of the Serious Fraud Office.

The goading by particular individuals on this site with respect to the SFO is doing Harlequin and the Ames family no favours whatsoever.

The individuals themselves might believe that as a result of the anonymity of this site nothing can be proved or linked back to particular individuals.

The posts of the last 24 hrs however have done the Ames family and Harlequin I repairable damage.

You just do not mess around with a serious active criminal investigation, especially when you are relying on the honesty of the Ames family and Harlequin for hard facts.

@Yatinkiteasy, no I don’t, but so many idiots, and you now fall into this category, insist in posting meaningless rubbish about me. If they do it then I will answer. Don’t forget it was not me who first put my name into this thread. If you don’t want rubbish then don’t start posting rubbish about me. It’s an easy concept to understand.

@Yatinkiteasy
Bob has a very sad life. He lives in a rented house with his mum and mother in law. His wife can’t stand him. He invested all his redundancy money in Harlequin (paid cash). His last job was a burger flipper and he got the sack. He has not worked since.

Despite his claims to be close to the Ames and the SFO he is a fantastic. A liar and a hypocrite. And he likes to stalk women too.

An idiot is one that gave Mr Ames thousands of pounds and has nothing to show for it, but who continues to defend the person and company that many believe to be con artists and crooks.. I do not fall into that category . Ha Ha Ha…LoL LoL.

Mr. Storey given your incessant references to the credibility of witnesses and naming those witnesses as being witnesses for the SFO and your references in the past to a member of the investigative team in addition to your previous claims that the SFO approached you is enough to trigger two separate complaints from anyone with a vested interest in Harlequin.

And that is all it will take to have the named officer potentially suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.

This is not the first time Harlequin have triggered an internal investigation within the SFO. In 2013 at a meeting in Manchester Harlequin and Mr. Ames intimated that the SFO investigation into Harlequin had ceased. A member of Harlequin’s entourage at the time claimed that he had worked previously with senior members of the SFO and they had confided in him that the SFO were no longer interested in Harlequin.

This was enough to trigger a large internal investigation within the SFO. This cost the organisation both valuable time and money.

It was subsequently discovered that there was no merit to the bizarre claims made by Harlequin at the Manchester meeting.

Whether you now wish to resile yourself from your previous insinuations is neither here nor there.

The damage has now been done. But your nonchalant attitude towards this is totally bizarre. I honestly believe you are not understanding of the damage you may have done even though perhaps inadvertently.

You have certainly handed a loaded pistol to those seeking to accelerate the demise of the Ames family.

This is not an attack on your character as you may have your own reasons for doing what you have done, it is however a vivid demonstration of the potential cause and adverse affects in this particular case.

@tein go for it. That’s not proof. You have no proof. Just to show how stupid your posting is you are suggesting that the SFO cannot request to interview someone. They only interview someone who approaches them. How stupid is that. Still you believe what you want. I could not give two monkeys.
@Yatinkiteasy, who says I have nothing to show for it? Get your facts right first. Still that would be a first.

Mr. Storey you are the catalyst. Little time or effort will be applied in determining whether you are the protagonist I suspect, but there is enough to cast suspicion on the particular investigative officer’s ethics in dealing with witnesses or in respect of the confidential matters with respect to potential witnesses in the immediate short term, however unfounded the allegations or suspicions might turn out to be.
But your insinuations will cause short term disruption to the life of the particular officer as it will to the efficiency of the workings of the SFO.

The SFO may determine at a later stage that further action will be taken against perhaps your good self. Its is then the proof you speak about now will come into play.

@the end is nigh , it’s a waste of time trying to get bob storey to see sense . He doesn’t understand that he is out of his depth . Best we just ignore him and hopefully he will go away .
I believe his sort feed of the attention they get

Oh so Bob has title to his Cabana?No.just some payments(already spent) for writing pro Harlequin crap on a blog and Trip Advisor as “Sportingman”. What facts are wrong Bob?..Do you actually have something to show for your investment in Harlequin?.Is it even close to what was promised in the nice glossy brochures and websites? No.And do you have title to your lovely cabana at BB? No. And those are the facts.The rest from you is all bull crap.
You are one sad, sad, case.

@anonymous don’t he isn’t worth it , I thought we agreed to ignore him .
Maybe we can get back to recovering our stolen money and looking for solutions to Harlequin as soon as miss manderfield , mr dalligan and the other Harlecon trolls have popped of to bed .

Yat, what BS has to show for his investment is a job to agitate on forums. Never once has he provided a valid argument as to how or why his paymasters are not involved in defrauding thousands. He simply disrupts and is not worth this attention, so move on. BB loses hundreds of grand a month, completing on that is not really worth doing anyway even if you could get clear title. Paying more money over would be madness.

@yatinkiteasy we are ignoring the little scum bag ……. We all know he has had a few quid of poppa Ames and boy has he earned it , let’s face it when the sfo do pick up Ames snr his purpose in this world is over . For me his purpose is over now .

Back in reality over on the other forum ran by Fatchett , the group seems confused .some eagerly awaiting the due diligence to manage a limited recovery of funds , others still certain that the resorts will be built and finance payments made and others who are smelling blood and looking for attack methods .
Fatchett is doing all he can to keep order in the ranks

Lol 4 more posts about ignoring me. You really are the most stupid bunch of posters I have ever come across.
@ Yatinkiteasy, you know absolutely nothing and are soooo far from the truth, which of course only I know. Now let’s see if you can resist posting about me again.

In three days time CLC an excellent and reputable law firm along with Peter Knox QC an equally excellent barrister return to the high court in the UK representing 22 Harlequin purchasers.

All they are looking for is a return of their money as is due to them under their contracts.

So its odd that Harlequin now take the opportunity to attempt to discredit CPC and its Principle Mrs. Crozier one of a number of support companies to the claimants action.

Harlequin if they had real suspicions with respect to Mrs. Crozier would have alerted the authorities along time ago. Indeed they could also have brought it to the attention of the judge in the current case. Fact is they have not.

The only ones rattled in this case are the Ames family, Harlequin and those thieves who work for them.

The anti CPC rhetoric will possibly increase in its ferocity as Tuesday approaches.

Carol and Dave Ames would be far better suited just to turn up on Tuesday and plead their case.

Surely there is noone alive stupid enough to think the Harlequin model can be revived, with finance enabling construction of the 9000 or so units still to be built, and then all those units operated at a profit? Absolutely amazing, a no wonder Ames got one over so many in the first place if people actually still believe this. Makes you actually think Ames should get away with it as such folly would have seen the investor lose money one way or the other on investing in carbon credits (ahem) or some such other ridiculous scheme/scam. This thing was blatantly a scam from the start, was barely dressed up – when Ames was telling people they would not have to pay their mortgages off, and no resorts were built, where did investors think that money would come from?? Does anyone among the investors/regulatory legal actually know about operating a resort in the CAribbean, what it takes to do it at a profit, not to mention build in the first place? If they did, they would have seen some of those locations and sizes and just chuckled along with the rest of us about what a ridiculous idea it all was.

@anon it’s 24 claimants . Of course Harlequin will attempt to discredit anyone who attacks Them look at Newman , WK , Ridgeview ,Ice group , not to mention the hundreds of managers who stole from them , the endless list of people who through jealousy set out to destroy them ( according to harlequin)and then of course the low life scum purchasers who Carole Ames stated set out to discredit her family because they couldn’t afford to complete on the 5000 imaginary houses her husband had sold .

Harlequin have forged emails , lied under oath , encouraged others to do the same ( if you believe the posts on here ) cheated and stole from pension funds with the aid of those who ought to have known better ,

A ordinary housewife has been vilified beyond belief , personal attacks have taken place on Crozier , Corney and even on FAtchett until he fell into line with AMes .
Paul Walton is having sex with everyone , RIchard Ingham is stalking MRs B, MR Jones is engaged in illegal activities against ladies , and every tom dick and Harry is a Freemason .

all agents and sales people are con artists everyone who touched the holy harlequin is a scam act , the only innocent people are the AMes family they are beyond reproach …….. How could MAttys jury be so so wrong .

What a stupid statement. If you cant afford to complete you should never have invested.

Its very clear mortgages were only being provided subject to status.

And look how many mortgage payments the Ames family covered for investors who would not normally be in a position to make an investment.

Greedy agents lied and the Ames’s are truly disgusted by this.

Builders ripped off Ames, proven fact.

Supported by corrupt Accountants, proven fact.

And now you have 24 investors who lied about their ability to afford such an investment, who could not afford to complete, who needed the Ames family to pay mortgages on their behalf. Now crying. And also trying to take down the trust.

At the Warrington meeting clients asked if the trust would recover their money in full others asked if the finance payments would restart . And for you information my letter said guaranteed mortgages not subject to status .
The trust can go ahead , fall apart do as it pleases you do not have all the investors on board because you do not have me and I am one .

@tax implications .This has been mentioned before that people who take their pensions out early are liable for tax on the money . I have no idea if the UK authorities would follow this through but apparently they could..
@Wibble , GF tried for a freezing order but lost the case ..
@Greetings, Of course Gf knows it’s a right mess I am not certain a lot of his clients understand it though from reading his forum ..
@anon 1.01 – it’s hard to get why people defend Ames but then you look at the salaries he paid his staff Daligan and Manderfield were on 30k per month , that kind of money buys a hell of a lot of loyalty no matter what .

From what I see the Trust will ultimately fail, Buccament Bay will be put into administration. SIPP investors will get redress through Insurance. The cash investors who have enough cash to complete will complete in the next few weeks – when BB goes bust a buyer will come in because the new airport will make things more viable. These cash investors who have title ( I am tod the real figure is 20 to 30 completions) will then agree a sale with the new owners and recover their investment that way.
Cash investors who can complete need to complete – handing over the balance to Ames may not be as stupid as some people state.
I hear of the 30 completions many are Ames friends and Masons?
Does anyone else think you should grab title if you can afford to?

I think any investor with plans to complete on BB should remember what the FCA had to say about that in 2013. Nothing has changed since that time.

“We are aware that on 13 May 2013, Harlequin Hotels & Resorts approached investors to state that Harlequin Property (SVG) Limited, another company within the Harlequin group, is working with SIPP and SSAS providers to facilitate the completion of built properties at Buccament Bay Resort. They invite investors who are in a position to fund the balance outstanding from their SIPP and SSAS or wish to relocate their investment from another Harlequin resort, to contact Harlequin Hotels & Resorts.

We wish to remind financial advisers that our expectations where financial advisers are asked for advice on overseas properties purchased through Harlequin group were set out in the alert of 18 January, which remain valid. Also, please note that Harlequin Property (SVG) Limited is not regulated by FCA and it is not a company incorporated in the UK. Harlequin Property (SVG) Limited is based in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

We urge financial advisers considering recommending consumers paying monies or further monies over to any of the companies in the Harlequin group at this time to proceed with caution. You should ensure that consumers fully understand the risks involved with the investment. You should also advise consumers to obtain legal advice from lawyers in the country where the property is located before proceeding with any investment in a company in the Harlequin group.”

Have any of the Sunday papers picked up on the conviction for fraud for Ames? There was a piece on the UK Times yesterday on a case with striking similarities. A Ferrari driving conman who gulled affluent investors out of more than £21m using charm and a fake dealing room was jailed for seven years. He got this sentence after pleading guilty too. The evidence showed that this was also a classic Ponzi scheme with investors being paid out of other people’s investments.

So 7 years for £21m after a guilty plea? Not sure what one would expect for £1.3m after wasting everyone’s time with a not guilty plea. Then what would £400m weigh in at?

Also, the guy convicted for Fraud had spent money on a trip to Las Vegas and had bought himself a £4m home. Fast car, trip to Las Vegas and a nice house. Is there a book out there called “Fraud for Dummies” with all these tips inside?

I have now lost all faith I actually thought the Bob Storey post above was a hijacker but unfortunately not and to think the guy in the video is on the RL Forum😦

Watch this investor on You Tube – makes you think

Posted by Robert Garvin on February 16, 2014 at 11:29 in Investor DiscussionsSend Message View Discussions
You Tube video

I stumbled across this. It made me feel sick.

What type of person could sell such a scheme to a clearly vunerable person ?

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Permalink Reply by Robert Storey 1 hour ago
Oh please, this was posted on BFP on 11.25. Four minutes later it appears here. 1t was posted by Erica on her blog some months ago. Yes the guy is disabled, but he is no different to anybody else on here, or any other investor. I suggest you question his motives for investing. Are you ” Wibble” by any chance?
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Permalink Reply by kathryn tinkler 1 hour ago
Hi Robert, yes it is a disgrace, for how everyone as been treated by Harlequin. I have seen Patricks youtube before. I believe Patrick is on this forum, so when you are on I would like to say hi , and I hope you are ok and being well looked after by RL@co. We are all in the same.. boat and are in this mess together. Good luck to all of us. Kathryn

This forum is boring as a Robert storey posting . Erica go eat a pie or something .
Who gives a flying f..k about anything other than their investment with Harlequin. This crap on hear is just to disrupt and stop people thinking about the real deal . Ames Where Is My £120k give it back now. I can drive to Basildon to collect it

Anon3.18 .dont expect any sensible responses Harlequin are terrified of Tuesdays hearing (I didn’t know anything was happening if this is the trial it’s come really quick)
They will keep this rubbish going to deter anyone from fighting them . I haven’t decided on the trust option yet but looking at this rubbish maybe the 24 had the right idea to grab as much as they can and get out of it .

he British Home Office (Ministerio del Interior) actually got involved in one case, a company called Oasis Properties had been scamming so many people that the Home Office asked the Spanish police to arrest the owner of the company and sling her in jail. In 2004, Audrey Dixon was incarcerated in Malaga for fraud. However, you can’t rely on the British authorities taking an interest in your case. They won’t.

More rubbish from the Harlequin camp …… The big question is what do this group have that is so damn frightening to the trolls …
Let’s take a guess

Could it be they are fully funded
Could it be they have a definite win
Could it be the investigations turned up something so scary Harlequin are terrified
Could it be nothing whatsoever moves this group from its direction

Ames can and will drag this out. Many investors do not have the money to complete. It is they who are dragging Harlequin down.

And we have agents who mislead investors. Fatchett has stated this.

And you have Builders ripping Ames off. See Irish Court Case.

Fatchett would not support Ames if he thought he was a Conman.

Liverpool FC would not support him.

Gary Player would not support him.

UK and West Indies would not support him.

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent would not support him.

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent sent the UK trial a personal character witness statement for Matt Ames in his trial through his lawyers Williams and Williams. Why do this if he did not believe in and trust Mr. Ames.

Now on Tuesday you have a bunch of greedy stupid investors and we will name and shame them who could not complete or pay their mortgages now wanting to cause trouble for Mr. And Mrs Ames.

And they are also trying to bring down the trust. These are greedy stupid and irresponsible people.

Putting up videos of again people who could never have afforded their investments. No offence to Patrick but he would have been better off keeping his money for his medical condition. Wonder how much he costs the NHS ? Another greedy investor.

And Mr. And Mrs. Ames are getting blamed for all this. Are they responsible for Patricks illness. Bollox are they.

You are talking rubbish. For God’s sake get a grip will you. BB is not worth $200 million USD. And Dave Ames does not ‘own land worth over $200 million’, which by the way is not very much in the international property market. Where do you get this wrong information from?

Highly amusing to see the Harlequin trolls wallowing around in the gutter spouting increasingly more pathetic lies.

This level of fear and desperation would usually tug at my heart strings, but these low life pieces of shit deserve what’s coming to them. And the more they stir their own shit, the worse they’re making it for themselves.

That deluded psychopath Ames must be getting even sicker with worry. Let justice finally be done. I can smell it; it’s near.

So, continue to squeal you fat little Harlequin pigs. The misery you’ve caused people through your ignorant self obsessed greed is going to hurt you like hell.

Let’s see the names the n clever boy …… Let’s see what you’ve got , let’s have a show and tell night if you’ve got the balls for it. Your getting really scared of this hearing …
You have nothing to show have you .

I will name the names after the case on Tuesday. What has Dave Ames and Caril done.

Did people think the Amses will always pay the mortgages for others.

Dave Ames sold his business to Cortholds and put every penny that is millions into the Caribeen.

Martin Mack Donald bribed some guys in the Doninican and tried to hang it on Dave Ames. The he and Wilkins Kennedy went to the SFO in October with the false information. Trying to stop the case against him. Fact

Dave Ames showed the papers to everyone in Manchester last week that proves Wilkins Kennedy are the real thieves. Gareth was there to fact.

And Dave Ames will close Wilkins Kennedy and will get the 30 million and in front of Gareth promised to put the money back into Harlequin.

Look how much Dave and Carol will lose if the trust dose not go ahead.

More rubbish from the Crozier camp …… The big question is what do this group have that is so damn frightening to the trolls …
Let’s take a guess

Could it be they are skint
Could it be they have a definite split in the camp
Could it be the investigations turned up something so scary Crozier wants a deal
Could it be nothing whatsoever will stop Crozier from bleeding you dry

No company called Cortholds ever existed according to Companies House. Still, Harlequin employees from thick twat Ames down can’t spell. So Dave, can you remember how you used to spell the name of the company you sold for millions (you lying bastard)?

As a result you cannot win your case. Its not to late. Call Mr. Ames tomorrow or Simon Terry. They will listen. They will be delighted to let you into the trust.

Mr. Ames is not vindictive. But if you make him go through more cases he will have no option but to defend his good name and that of his company.

If you give him time he will share the 30 million amongst all investors. And if anyone does not believe this just ask Garreth Fatchett.

Folks it is not too late. Tell Crozier and Corney to get a life. They are chasing ghosts. They know they have lost. Walk away tomorrow. This will drag on for years otherwise and Crozier and Corney will bleed you dry. Cut you losses with them and join the trust. RL have guranteed that the only safe place is the trust for your investment.

Dont you think RL would have done what Crozier did if they thought they would win.

They didnt. Remember RL and Fatchett personally got some 50 million quid back in cash for Arch Crux investors.

Oh this is hilarious …… Firstly RL got frig all back from arc cru …… Read it and weep .
Second it doesn’t matter if crozier is involved or not the claim goes ahead
Thirdly . What the f..k are you harlequin shite so scared of

Could it be the lady has you by the balls those that know mrs c know she has more guts than any of you and doesn’t give a shit no matter how many times you attack her
Grow a pair or foxtrot Oscar

Crozier is going after Ames personally, which is a perfectly reasonable strategy but only feasible for a limited number of claimants. RL were always looking for high volume therefore pursued a different route, again equally valid.

Ames has resilience, I’ll give him that but his days are numbered, patently so.

“Que”. What is a que? You mean queue. Not very nice things to call Joe is it. Oh by the way I have never called Joe anything else but Joe. I’m sure he appreciates being named in full by yourself and your friends. Now go and check all your screen shots and find out which Joe I’m referring to. Yes you twat, muppet, illiterate idiot, that’s you ok.

Terry and Ames will “let” people join the Trust. They’re absolutely DESPERATE for people to join the trust and hold off on inevitable litigation. Litigation for thousands of breached contracts, the majority of which will NEVER be honoured and all the money is GONE. Harlequin in FUCKED.

Anon @5.46 – hilarious. Ames has only ever lied, who gave the agents the information with which to sell, that he is on youtube spouting so ineloquently? He did not sell any company for millions, that is not even vaguely based on truth. He is a former bankrupt (twice) and has no track record that should encourage investors. Buccament Bay was built using investor money (9000 investments), so in theory it does not belong to Ames, and it is worth US$20m at the very most. Noone in this market would pay that for the place, and that is including the 110 units, Take them away and probably worth US$5m. When did you last shop for a resort? You buy based on profitability, and potential. A resort caught up in litigation and only loses money is worthless. Offers for Marquis are knocking around at US$4m in real estate circles. Blu similar amount. Dom Rep land a little more. The efforts to suggest Ames is blameless and was a victim of dozens of others who wronged him in business are futile. He alone is responsible for what has happened and he will shoulder the blame and get the longest prison sentence. Also, why quote Liverpool and Gary Player etc as supporting him means he is legit – did you see who invested in Madoff and Stanford? Did you see the positions Madoff held?? All the while was a complete fraud. Only difference is is that Ames was clearly a fraud from day 1 and it is inexplicable that people did not see through it. Madoff and Stanford were smooth talkers and knew a bit about what they were peddling. Ames knows less about resort development and operation than he does about rocket science.

What will Ames’ defence be considering his advice to all other investors is to sue their agents for recommending such a shit investment? And for them to pay up to form a trust to relinquish their contractual rights in exchange for owning a fraction of that shit investment?

Bob, why the hell would I ever sign in under another name, and pretend to have lost all command of the English language? Do you think I want more anonymity?! You really are a thick twat and just keep proving it over and over again.

Desperado why don’t you come to your senses ………. Why does Dave ames remind me of that old eagles song ……..
Oh dear the lady has you rattled but the ladies not for turning and will give you a damn good hand bagging .

David Edward Ames recently travelled to St. Vincent not to endeavour to work on completions. Not to offer his condolences to the family of the employee killed in the storm. No. David Edward Ames travelled to St. Vincent to arrange a further payment to the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in return for the character reference and witness statement the Prime Minister Mr. Ralph Gonsalves prepared for Matt Ames in his recent criminal trial.

Just had a little look at CLC’s webpage and did some wider reading around the firm. It seems pretty clear to me that all attempts to disparage “Corney” are borne out of fear — his calibre, pedigree and experience in this field is impressive; I’d be scared if I were in the wrong side of any case that he was acting on too.

The attempts to undermine him, and the manner in which they are levelled, betray a fairly profound ignorance of exactly the sort of legal professional that this individual clearly is — and how the legal system and profession in general works. Unlike those making laughable statements about him above, he is clearly educated and intelligent and expects a result — interesting too to note the subjects of the papers that he’s had published (he’s clearly been chosen for this case for a reason). Attempting to suggest that he isn’t fully aware of exactly how to structure his case and identify relevant parties is similarly ignorant — do you honestly believe that he doesn’t know how legal parties work? Have you got any idea what you’re dealing with in terms of the intellect of an individual like this? Do you not think that if he’s going after individuals here, there’s a good reason for it — or do you genuinely think that with zero legal experience, you’ve thought of something he hasn’t?

This attempt to launch ad hominem attacks on every single individual who has an axe to grind with Harlequin is cynical and transparent — fortunately it also says far more about those launching the attacks than those they are launching them against. And reeks of desperation.

Save your. Breath anonymous the harlequin rabble are terrified and think by attacking the group who have the freezing order they may scare them off . If it wasn’t so pitiful it would be funny .
Ames is desperate for the trust so crap will go on till lunchtime Tuesday when the case will be over .

@Anon 11.48 just give it up. No one is interested, your postings are factually wrong despite being told so. We are all bored now with your very silly accusations. Let me just point out a small point to you. I have never posted Joe’s second name, unlike you. So that’s your silly argument shot down . “You don’t understand me”? You need a brain to do that mate.

We received numerous copies of the Guardian SIPP update. It was a shame that Guardian were unable to attend last Thursday. If they had of attended, they would have seen that we were trying to seek a common accord between SIPP providers on a number of technical issues.

Harlequin impacts on Guardian more than any other SIPP provider. On our figures we estimate they have around 50% of all of the 3500 or so SIPP investments. Therefore, the effect on Guardian is significantly more than any other SIPP.

We fully understand that Guardian need to see the due diligence. We also understand that they will need to be party to any Deed of Waiver. However, what we have been invited to do would prevent us from pursuing any redress claim for both our existing clients (of which there are many).

All our clients want either / both of (a) the securing of the assets bought by Harlequin using their money (b) the ability to obtain redress so that they can exit the Harlequin investment as soon as possible (c) a compromise / concession by SIPP providers to waive annual management charges whilst this matter is dealt with.

We cannot and will not agree to something which prevents (b).

What we are going to do is agree something with Guardian which allows them to work with us on the due diligence. We would have talked this through last week if Guardian had attended. We have suggested meeting Guardian as soon as possible to see whether common ground can be agreed.

“If they had of attended..” If my lawyer wrote such bad English, I would be concerned. US$650m taken by Ames is unaccounted for, and a trust will protect him from being sued by investors, is that the gist? Contracts breached, and investors foregoing rights under those contracts? Surely that is not the case?

Another point worth noting aside from the use of the word “of”. RL say Harlequin impacts on Guardian more then any other SIPP provider.

Should that not be Guardian impacting on Harlequin.

Also for some time now RL told us how the SIPPs formed the majority of the contracts within Harlequin. They also told us there were in excess of 9000 contracts. We can only deduce from that that there must be in excess of 4500 SIPP investments.

But now RL are telling us that there are 3500 or so SIPP investments. About 40% with half of this held by Guardian. That according to RL’s own figures is 20% of Harlequin investments. A sizeable figure indeed.

Can RL confirm that Rowanmore the other very large SIPP provider has acceded to RL’s demands. If not well the figure not currently buying into the trust rises further.

And what then of RL’s previous statements whereby they stated a mandate of 75% of investors was required in order to allow the trust to proceed.

And finally what affect would any existing liens, charges or cautions on Harlequin’s assets have on the assets to be placed in the trust ?

If you go back to several of the RL communications, you will find many inconsistencies in their statements. Like all lawyers…they are in it for the money…protecting investors? What a joke. They know all is lost, but they can still (maybe) get away with a million pounds or so for their services.

Some of the more pertinent comments on this site have had the result that RL have indeed responded.

Harlequin would like us to believe the this site and this thread is the domain of freaks and weirdos. Yes there are many who fit that bill who post on here, but from time to time little gems are posted which result in an avalanche of abusive posts coupled with allegation followed by counter allegation.

It is these little gems who are helping those who read this thread and others similar to this to put together the pieces of the jigsaw.

You do not necessarily have to post or identify your self when just browsing this thread.

And Mr. Ames should be under no illusion as to the many parties with an interest in Harlequin who visit these threads on a daily basis.

Why else would Harlequin go to the extremes they have to quell sensible debate on the issues being raised.

But sadly much of this Harlequin Troll activity does nothing more then pique the interest of readers further.

Mr. Ames and his tribe of delusional followers appear not to have understood the concept of the Streisand effect.

The Ames family and Harlequin are akin to a rabid animal in its final death throws. Still highly toxic to those who come near them but other wise a spent force.

On another note Matt Ames remains incarcerated pending the independent surety being found and put in place. Carol Dave and Dan have been precluded from visiting him without as all 4 are suspects in the Harlequin criminal investigation.

RL are also about to cut some fairly large amounts of flack on the issue of the due diligence they apparently over looked. It’s going to be a highly embarrassing and most awkward situation for RL to talk their way out of.

Yatink- Hope that I am not double posting this. What I meant to say
is that by bribing a PM one might get away with not submitting
legally required annual reports.
Another thought – The “little gems” are exactly why I read this daily.

@anonymous, Thanks for the clarification. Understood and agreed. However, if the financials are not available, for whatever reason, DD can simply not be completed, even if the Country involved does not demand that they are done (as is required by law on an annual basis.)

9000 units sold
Average size – 1,500 square feet
Build cost U$150 (very low side for high end) – US$2.7bn for the units
Infrastructure on the properties @10-20m per property given their location and status – US$80m
Golf courses/marinas – anyone’s guess as really these are not feasible, but generously let’s say US$40m.
Total cost to build out what has been contracted to build – US$2.82bn.

Money taken is US$650m, more than half gone on commissions.
No evidence anything is left.
Assets are common areas of a resort (units effectively do not belong to developer as they are under contract to pass to the purchaser), and unbuilt land. Total asset value of all land and assets less than US$100m. Probably less than US$50m.

Debts – contracts are breached so should be showing some US$600m as a liability on balance sheet.
If people all decided not to enforce the contracts, and expected to get what they bought, then still some US$2.8b needed to complete.

If US$650m is one third of all deposits, then the total sales value is US$2.1b. If two thirds is remaining of that to come in from investors/purchasers, then the total they can expect to collect in the best case scenario is a little under US$1.4bn. They are almost US$1.5bn shy of being able to meet their obligations, and that is before one takes into account finance costs (if finance were ever forthcoming which clearly is not going to happen with such a business)

Given that investors cannot complete anyway, and most likely don’t want to and just want money out, people should immediately forget about resorts being built. Given that the only resort loses money hand over fist based on what Harlequin themselves have said, and the others are not built but would lose also given location and lack of demand for their kind of resorts, and given resorts just do lose money for the first three years, then a huge provision would have to be made to fund that also. Even if the resorts could be built, there would be no point as they would be money pits. Other than the DR, the resorts are totally unsuitable for location.

Forget about criminal investigations, non filing of accounts, and all other improper conduct, noone should think for a moment any more units other than what is already built are going to begin. With that in mind, the only DD required is that of Buccament Bay as a resort to see what the 110 investors or so that may own holiday units are actually getting. This is not an expensive process – just send the auditors in, get access to the accounts and very quickly the real picture will emerge. This could be done for US$30k. It does not need a trust to do that either, they are legally obliged, so “investors” should enforce that obligation.

Still waiting for the knock on the door. Ha ha lol
@Anon and others, you seem to have the misconception that I have raised the SFO recently. You are guilable enough to swallow the bullshit from the posters of Saturday night. How brainless you are.

@ Silly Post. The due diligence will be made public tomorrow evening. This should focus attention on a number of issues, primarily the absolute inability of Mr. Garreth Fatchett to manage properly the establishment of the trust.

Enough money is being wasted chasing dreams and the time has come to put those true facts out for all to see.

@ Silly post. All we are doing is making the details of our findings in the different land registry offices in the Caribbean known to all on here. No biggy. Why would we rely on what Mr. Ames says. We will leave that to Fatchett.

@open letter and your gang of followers, so how did your e mail to the SFO go? I have to go out tomorrow and need to know what time the Essex plod will be here. Of course you did send the e mail didn’t you? Wouldn’t like to think it was a wind up would we? Ha ha lol

@ Anon and your twat followers. I have to out tomorroow so WHAT TIME ARE THE ESSEX PLOD COMING is JOE COMING or is he in Waldon on Thames with a bucket. Lol ha ha.
You dragged me into this twat. You mentioned Joe H#@#$#@@ ha ha not me. Must be loads of joes twats. How many joes idiot rental acountant twat. Ha ha

I have been out all evening so I have not been on. Idiots do you believe everything on here lol ha ha. Twats. Essex plods never left a note anon. Tomorrow ? Im in Waldon at Thames tomorrow looking at rental property. Lol ha ha

Yes, I do fear that Mr Storey is drifting into the realms of the unwell. It has been a slow but perhaps inevitable decline. What an unseemly way for a man of advancing years to behave. And why is everyone a “twat” all of a sudden?

@ Robert Storey Dave Ames is honest. now that is the funniest post I have ever seen on BFP

question for you as you do seem to be the man with the answers….lets just assume that DA/CA etc all get arrested and join Matt behind bars….do you not think you will look a t@@t then after all the posts , or will you blame the Irish builder for setting him up

I read our much maligned due diligence process. We have done plenty of work in the background and understand Harlequin pretty well.

Our results have not been published yet. When they are, please then inform us of any errors, misunderstandings etc.

I speak regularly to most of the parties involved. They appear to be pragmatic. However, it seems to us that because CLC have their application today, Nikki Crozier has been subject to constant attack. For the same reasons CLC bring their application, Harlequin will resist it. The fall out from the application will form part of our due diligence.

Please do not assume any pre determined outcome to our advice. It will be based on the known facts.

I am not bothered about some of the historical issues. They litter this site. What I am bothered about is getting a decent result for investors. We have a trust, redress or a mixture of the two.

Listen Fatshit you lazy bastard. You should have known what was going to come out of today’s hearing had you bothered to get off your ass and do something with the money you were given aside from swanning off and to make the body beautiful.

You were not the only game in town. Of course as a result of today your due diligence lets us say will be altered.

And why did you take it upon yourself to respond to what you refer to as anonymous posters.

What I find a little odd is his need to come onto BFP to clarify his position. A position which appears to ebb and flow like the tide.

However what is a fact, is that aside from the CLC 20-24 there are others who have taken steps to protect the financial interests of their clients, and I am most surprised by the antagonistic manner in which Mr. Fatchett is dealing with some with respect to the trust.

Indeed it is those same entities through their actions, that have made the trust an unworkable process in its present format, and until those outstanding claims, and again I am not referring to today’s action in the UK High Court, are settled sadly the trust will not be able to proceed.

Mr. Fatchett has no one to blame but himself for this unfortunate train of events. Had he even carried out the most basic of due diligence he would have clearly understood that the trust, as is proposed would not have worked, however it would have allowed him time to negotiate with those who currently hold all the cards in a rather different and possibly less antagonistic manner.

I am not referring to Harlequin or the Ames family either.

The failure of the trust is therefore purely down to the inaction of Mr. Fatchett in understanding the alternate avenues that were available to others, and I apologise if this seems harsh, but the faith Mr. Fatchett has put in the Ames family to provide him with factual and accurate information on their companies, and the apparent absolute arrogance of the man with respect to the notion that he was the only viable alternative to liquidation.

The fact that Mr. Fatchett had to come onto BFP, a site he has ridiculed and derided in the past by stating that the posts on this and other threads were without any factual basis or provenance, is now an indicator of the seriousness to which he is now accords some of the more informative posts on this site.

As has often been stated, these threads are viewed by a far wider audience with varying interests in Harlequin then some on these threads would like us to believe, and Mr. Fatchett’s earlier post is testament to this.

One other point I would like to pick up on, is Mr. Fatchett’s rather benign reference to the provenance and authenticity of the due diligence he is in the process of conducting. He appears in his letter on BFP to welcome analysis of his due diligence once it has been produced. And would be willing to correct any anomalies to his due diligence if his due diligence was proved to be inaccurate.

Given that Mr. Fatchett has claimed that his due diligence will only be made available to paying clients of his, I find it both odd and bordering on farcical that Mr. Fatchett is now suggesting that any one with contradictory information to that due diligence being produced by Mr. Fatchett is welcome to present this to Mr. Fatchett in order for him to reconsider the content of his due diligence pack. Given that Mr. Fatchett has alluded to this due diligence being covered by a type of NDA.

It is becoming more apparent that Mr. Fatchett is attempting to force through his trust proposals regardless.

It must be noted that Mr. Fatchett does not believe that the Serious Fraud Office will proceed with any action against Harlequin or the Ames family. This is however a personal view held by him and to date he has not provided any additional information to add credence to this view.

Of course the assumption is that the post from RL earlier is actually from RL. The obvious cases of ID jacking which goes on on this thread or indead on BFP in general means nothing can be taken on face value.

Absolutely correct Robert, I am sure RL will post something very shortly on their site disclaiming the post on BFP if indeed Mr. Fatchett did not post on this thread. We wait news of this. Perhaps you could monitor this for us all.

Robert are you referring to the possibility that your ID gets hijacked. Does this mean that you do not know anything about the witnesses in the SFO case and that you do not know Joe Hopkins?

Robert could it be that you never got a return on your investment, indeed could it be that you do not in fact exist.

Who knows Robert, so agreed it is best we place no credence on anything you may have to say. This removes one of the more colourful, humorous and predominately idiotic contributors ( single plural ) from the discussions.

@anon 4.10 you could of course remove yourself from posting, oh hang on a minute that would be every Anon on here, there would be no body left. And there you go posting the second name of Joe, something that I have never done. Lol tut tut

Tues night and still no sign of Essex plod. This is getting to be an anti climax now. Can Open Letter update me on his e mail. Did he get a reply, was it sent? Was Open Letter just a troll? I think we all know the answer to that one. Mind how you go.

As promised. Dear Mr. Fatchett, with the greatest of respect, we have undertaken an exercise in order to ascertain the true position as it pertains to the land assets held by the various Harlequin entities and the Ames family in the Caribbean.

The exercise was simple in its execution. We engaged a firm of solicitors in each of the respective jurisdictions where Harlequin / Ames claim to have land assets.

Each of the firms contacted the respective land registry offices in each of the jurisdictions.

The following is what transpired. We have summarised the findings and have sent the land registry documents to the relevant authorities.

The total cost of the exercise was less then $10,000 USD inclusive of Vat. Or in simple terms the equivalent to 26 investors contributions to the trust.

All of the resorts owned by Harlequin have cautions attached. Ironically some of those cautions have been attached by Guardian SIPP and Rowanmore. As you your self have pointed out both these companies account for close to 30 % of investors.

Both Guardian SIPP and Rowanmore took these cautions out, not recently, but in many cases prior to your initial engagement on the Harlequin matter.

They have taken this action in order to protect the interests of their clients.

These cautions have the affect of providing an encumbrance on the land assets of the Harlequin entities.

You could call it a trust of sorts.

You have at all times stated and alluded to the fact that you and your company RL were the only option open to investors in lieu of a liquidation of the Harlequin assets.

There is also persuasive evidence that your relationship with Harlequin and the Ames family is conflicted as it pertains to your claims to act on behalf of investors within the Harlequin Group. We will deal with this issue at a later stage and will of course allow you the opportunity to be open and transparent with all investors.

Harlequin and Mr. Ames have on numerous occasions stated that the lands owned by Harlequin / Ames remain unencumbered, we now know this statement was false.

You can now understand given the many cautions on the assets of Harlequin through out the Caribbean that the trust as being proposed by you cannot legally work until such time as these cautions are dealt with.

You however have no authority, financial capability nor mandate from Harlequin to deal with the issue of these many cautions.

As to deal with the cautions, which were obtained by way of affidavits will require Harlequin to settle with the clients who have obtained these numerous cautions. Harlequin can do this in two ways. Pay the clients what they are owed or challenge the validity of the cautions by way of court actions.

You also made a statement that you had seen a letter of intent from a financier but due to an NDA are precluded from sharing details of this financier with us. The finance you state would be predicated on the establishment of the trust.

We find it very difficult to accept this, any reputable financier would have carried out the same exercise we did.

Mr. Fatchett you have now some very serious questions to answer.

But its time to drop the charade. Its time to face up to the reality of the situation. Investors do not want continued updates on how much progress you are making. They now will require unequivocal answers.

Posted by Keith on February 18, 2014 at 19:38 in Investor DiscussionsSend Message View Discussions
Just looking back through all previous correspondonce and came across this extract in the invation snet out to last octobers meetings by David Ames.

The trust documentation is currently being independently prepared, the cost of which is being covered by Regulatory Legal Solicitors, who do not act for Harlequin but for a number of investors. Harlequin has not yet seen the documents but understands that the trust will be based in the UK and will have 5 nominated trustees to represent the interests of its members.

What did he mean independently prepared and RL to pay trust costs, RL must have been aware at the time.

Most of us should never have been put in the case, talk about throwing good money after bad. I have very little left and no end in site for the £1000’s I have paid Crozier.
Feel totally fed up with this whole thing.

Rather odd I was in the court room today. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ames were conspicuous by their absence. Harlequin were represented by QC Mr. Rees, his junior, Richard Specter of ELS, Dan Abrhams in house solicitor for Harlequin and Simon Taylor VP for Harlequin Hotels and Resorts.

CLC were represented by Mr. Chris Corney, Mr. Knox QC, his junior and a large representation of investors from the claimants.

The start of the case was delayed to 12.00 given an over run of an earlier case.

The case broke up for lunch returning in the afternoon.

At 16.30 the judge ordered both sides to reach a consent order on a number of the issues raised. They are due to return to court tomorrow at 16.00 in order to have consent order perfected.

A number of witness statements supporting the defendants case were produced, only one of Harlequin’s witnesses was in court today. Mr. Spectre. Two other witnesses for Harlequin were not in attendance, they were Mr. Sam Commissiong Lawyer for Harlequin in the Caribbean and Mr. Gareth Fatchett a solicitor with a company called Regulatory Legal from Birmingham.

The claimants witness statement was from Mr. Chris Corney who was in attendance.

To be fair to both parties, I will report on the undertakings made by the defendants once the order has been perfected tomorrow.

It is wrong to state that the claimants received a bloody nose. It is correct to state that the action was hotly contested by both parties.

It is worth noting that Harlequin stated in court that the only reason the company is in the dire financial position it finds itself in, was as a result of the actions of the ICE Group and its principal Mr. O’ Halloran in league with Wilkins Kennedy. Mr. Rees stated that Harlequin through a different chambers was to file a lawsuit for USD $ 50 Million next week in the high court in London against Wilkins Kennedy.

The judge stated that those matters were of no interest to him as they were not related to the particular claim before him.

Last week Harlequin submitted documents to commence an arbitration process against Wilkins Kennedy. We do not know whether the offer of arbitration was rejected by Wilkins Kennedy.

The claimants in that case are Harlequin Propert SVG and Harlequin Caribbean Ltd.

Mr Rees representing the defendants was grilled on the quality of the evidence provided by the defendants. The defendants and claimants were asked by the judge to sit together to agree a consent order pending the outstanding evidence being provided by the defence. The order is to be perfected tomorrow at 16.00. The case was then adjourned for two weeks by which time the defendants will have had to comply with the terms of the consent order.No order as to costs has yet been given in today’s applications

In the court. Thank you for the summary. I look forward to hearing the contents of the court order tomorrow. Again thank you for keeping us updated.
I have one question however, surely you meant that Gareth Fatchet was a witness for the investors and not Ames. It would be horrific to think that Mr. Fatchet would be supporting Mr. Ames against fellow investors, I am sure Mr. Fatchet would not wish to be reported as having worked on the side of Mr. Ames.
But aside from that little mistake ???? Again thank you for the summary.

However Mr. Gareth Fatchett was most definitely a witness for Mr. and Mrs. Ames.

To those who are claiming some sort of loss for CLC on the contrary. Mr. Rees was heavily criticised in court by the judge for not providing evidence as previously ordered by the court. The consent order will have the consequence that accounting and valuations for all 43 Harlequin companies will have to be presented to the court within 14 days. Or the Ames family will face serious sanctions.

And could potentially have their defence struck out.

As I repeated earlier I will be in court again tomorrow and will post the details of the court order.

Fatchett takes money from investors for valuations. He says they are for investors. Gives the copies to Ames. Ames uses them in court against CLC. Fatchett works for Ames. But heh you guys carry on believing the bull from Fatchett. I would not trust him as far as I would throw him. He could not care less about investors.

Yes Please Gareth. Why were you a witness for Harlequin of all people. Sorry worse for the Ames’s. And why did you not know about the cautions????? Fancy that Guardian and Rowanmore moved a year ago to protect their investor money and you see fit to attack them. How much is Ames paying you Gareth.Guardian clients did not have to undertake not to sue Ames to get cautions. So why are you attacking investors who go down a different route.

Cant wait for the update. Can just see it now. Im doing whats best for investors. The cautions are historical. Im going to sue Guardian. They will toe the line. Everything moving forward as planned. We supported Ames for a good reason but we cant tell you yet because it is part of the plan.

How did the case go against Harlequin Liz ?? No news posted yet, so I take it you were blown out of the water. I did warn you to stay away. People need to be made aware who is really behind your company. The biggest fraudster in Spain who conned millions from expats for properties they never got. None other than Audrey Dixon, now known as Elizabeth Crozier or Elizabeth Dixon as I am aware. If you wish to deal with CPC Worldwide, check out Audrey Dixon on Google first and you will find a lot out from other victims she worked her magic on. BEWARE !!! You will be her next victim !!!

Just going through my notes. Mr. Rees did bring to the attention of the court that Mr. Commissiong a barrister and lawyer for Harlequin in the Caribbean and who is a witness for Harlequin in the CLC case and was a witness for Harlequin in the Irish case got his evidence wrong in Ireland.

A court case was held today and now rather then any cohesive or rational views from those pro Ames we get the usual rubbish.
But they apparently dont just come up with rubbish on here. They seem to have no issue with lying in a court. Any investor who believes that they will recover any losses should start thinking straight. The Ames family are nothing but cheats, thieves and cowards.

@ in court… just to confirm, HP etc will have to provide accounts for all of the HP companies within fourteen days….and what is the potential result and penalties if they don’t. Do the accounts need to be verified/cerified in any way by a registered body (if so that could be interesting to predict the documents produced)

surely Ames is in trouble for not producing a set of accounts for companies house etc for all these years…if he does produce some form of accounts surely the CLC QC will rip into why have these only just been presented and why were they not submitted to CH…I put it to you that these have been fabricated in the previous fourteen days…..oh fecking dear CLC just hit check mate game over button

I wouldn’t worry too much about waiving your right to sue Ames. It doesn’t seem to work even if you do get him into court and have an obvious breached contract and are only asking for a refund as per your contractual rights! How can this not be an open and close case? What possible defense can Ames have? It just sounds like another nonsense to me, but heh, what did we expect? The circus continues.

@ Sid These are currently just procedural issues so appeals do not come into play at this point. The court order will stipulate what ever sanctions will be enforced. It will be then up to the judges discretion to enforce the sanctions of the order should the order not be complied with.

This cannot be true that Fatchett was a witness for Ames. If so, this is a massive conflict – he has been trying to get investors not to sue someone who all evidence would suggest defrauded them, and then acts as witness in the alleged fraudster’s defence. Whilst wanting to protect investors. This would be career ending for him, so would need concrete evidence of this before rushing to judge.There would be no way back for him if it were true.

Yes it might appear to be an open and shut case, but it needs at least some cooperation from both parties. In the Ames case, CLC have now made 6 attempts to get from the Amses a full and frank disclosure of their personal assets, to date this has not been forthcoming.

You would assume that for example lawyers would play an honest game as officers of the court, but we then see the revelation today by Mr. Rees the Ames’s barrister that evidence provided by Mr. Commissiong a barrister and solicitor for Harlequin in the Irish case was wrong.

In other words he lied in Ireland on oath. Barristers and Lawyers who are witnesses don’t normally risk their professional reputations by getting something wrong. Do you believe Harlequin will bring this mistake to the attention of the Irish Court, of course not.

It can be a long and laborious process, however this is not to say that it’s just not worth pursuing.

Another interesting facet of the current case is that at the onset of the proceedings the level of damages and costs to be paid by the claimants in the event that they lost was capped. The Ames’s made an application today to have that cap increased. This was not forthcoming. So from the outset the claimants are fully aware of their exposure with relevance to damages and costs should they loose. If memory serves me correctly as I do not have my notes of today’s proceedings on me, I think the cap figure was £70,000.00 or about £3000 per claimant.

Sadly many on this site would like you and others to believe that the cost of this action is prohibitive but in reality given that it is a class action and in this case with a cap the costs are greatly reduced.
There are additional costs in the region of £15,000-£20,000 per month in legal fees, case preparation and court appearances, but spread across 20-24 claimants again the cost burden is greatly reduced.
You will have seen figures quoted on this site and statements along the lines of Ames will bankrupt you if you loose the case, given the Cap in this case they are just scaremongering tactics.
Stuff of fantasy. No doubt this post will be savaged in the morning but I would suggest that anyone with an interest should try and get to the next hearing in the CLC case in 14 days. It is quite revealing.

The Ames strategy is to try and drive the costs of the case through the roof through legal delaying tactics. This is a common strategy used in cases where one side may feel their case is weak for whatever reason. In doing this the weaker side hopes to win by default by driving the other side out of money prior to the end of the case. The Ames unfortunately use this tactic using investor funds to fight litigation with those same investors.
This strategy whilst morally repulsive to some is not illegal.
In the current case against the Ames given the cap, the strategy above is not as important and is far less of a concern to the claimants. Ironically the Ames are claiming in this case that the strategy outlined above is being utilised by the claimants. The Ames have proffered an argument that it is the claimants who are dragging out the case in order to force the Ames to a settlement position by default.

This goes against the arguments being proffered by some on this site. But that is propaganda for you.

Gareth Fatchett proffered a witness statement in support of the Ames in the UK high court today. The witness statement was with respect to the establishment of the trust.

Whichever way you look at it, it was a witness statement in support of the Ames defence against investors.

Given that the trust has not yet been established and technically there should be no guarantee that the trust will proceed until the due diligence process has been completed I fail to understand why someone would feel compelled to enter a witness statement in support of the defendants when they themselves are technically in dispute with the same defendants and professing to represent thousands of investors in a similar situation to the claimants in this case.

Regardless of the content a witness statement is a witness statement, and witness statements are designed to buttress the arguments of a particular side.

I’m sorry but I personally do not accept that a person in Mr. Fatchett’s position should have entertained such a request not to mind acceded to it. It does seriously question his impartiality and independence.

One wonders what other information Mr. Fatchett is passing to the Ames.

You claim to have two thousand clients, did your clients instruct you to submit a witness statement on behalf of Mr and Mrs Ames?

Did you not pull a similar stunt a few months ago when you stated on your website that you were going to assist Ames in his case against Wilkins Kennedy? Admittedly you backed down from that particular stance a few days later.

Bullshit Gareth absolute Bullshit. You by your own words previously don”t even have a mandate. Did you even discuss or alert your “clients” to the fact you were issuing a witness statement? And what about the cautions? How does that affect your trust? Spot on. Very professional of you.

GF provided a statement to the court confirming that an investor trust is being worked on. GF took the view that the court should be aware of the large number of investors seeking to protect their interests.

The meat of the case relates to whether David / Carol Ames complied with their disclosure requirements relating to earlier orders. GF made no comment in relation to this as both he and RL have not part in this action.

There is an incredible stench of fear emanating from the anti CLC/CPC poster(s). I’ve only recently come across this site and had heard about Harlequin but otherwise have no vested interest for or against but I just could not help feeling the terror in his/her/their post(s). I assume the poster(s) can’t be investors otherwise why the fear so what is Harlequin so scared of in this court action? Anyone know?

What yesterday does prove is that Ames will go to great lengths to keep investors money rather than do the honourable and legitimate thing and pay back what he owes under contract. I don’t think this aggressive stance will do him any favours with the SFO if/when the time comes.

Why are some of you so impassioned by the costs of this action? I can’t really see why it’s any of your business. Some individuals have chosen to deal with things in a certain way as is their right in the circumstances. The information from “In Court” above, which seems very credible, has nixed the idea that the potential fallout is a bottomless pit. It’s been dealt with.

I’m struggling to understand why, if it’s not your money, you’d care so much. They’ve obviously made their own decisions — oafishly opining “wrong choice” smacks of a strange desperation; “if I say it enough, it might eventually be true — or people might not bother to actually engage with this more than the facile level at which I do.”

As usual in this case, any individual who puts themselves up against Harlequin and actually attempts to assert what they consider to be their rights, is subject to a barrage of ill-informed, repetitive, ad hominem attacks. Have you got any idea how reprehensible that makes the company, and its supporters, look to the outside world?

GF states he has no duty to CLC investors. But he has a duty to Dave Ames? All he does seeks to protect him. He may say this is in the interests of his investors. Nonsense, he should be telling Ames to hand over everything or all of his clients are going to sue him and ensure he goes to jail for life – that is what a lawyer should be doing, fighting for his client against the bad guys. Ames defrauded GF’s clients, it is clear as day. This whole protecting and playing nice with Dave Ames makes no sense, and is utterly distasteful. Now he has sent in a statement on the side of Ames really does show which side his bread is buttered and frankly is shocking. He would have lost my trust 100% and I expect most right thinking clients will think the same. I would be complaining to the bar association if he had no mandate to issue a statement for Ames’s benefit, total conflict.

Its not we are obsessed with costs its just that the old trout Crozier, a convicted fraudster, who uses aliases, who bleeds 20% of the fees that are paid away to her, has been gobbing off along with her followers taking a selfish route that will damage the majority and the success of the trust has failed and will have cost her disciples another £50k!
Its bad enough being ripped by Ames now they are being led a merry dance by Crozier!
Its all too funny

Matthew Ames’ Application to Vary Bail Conditions on 14 Feb was REFUSED and Ames was remanded in custody.

Matthew Ames is scheduled to be sentenced on 14 March. He certainly hasn’t helped himself by pleading not guilty”

Matthew Ames’ application to ‘Vary’ Bail Conditions ‘may’ have been refused but I can categorically confirm Fat Matt IS out on Bail until his sentencing on the 14th March. His passport has been confiscated and is banned form travelling under his Bail conditions.

may be of interest to investors. redress option is not cut and dried and would be complicated even further if the sfo took action against harlequin

Claims in relation to investments in Arck LLP
17th February 2014

Since our previous update, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that two former partners of Arck LLP, Kathryn Joy Clark and Richard Aston Clay, have been charged with fraud and forgery offences by the SFO and Nottinghamshire Police. The trial is due to take place in January 2015.

Due to the ongoing criminal proceedings, FSCS is not able to reach a view on the liability of the independent financial advisers (IFAs) against which we have received claims at this time. In particular, FSCS is not able to confirm whether any losses incurred by investors were caused by the advice they received from their IFA to invest in Arck LLP. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and will provide further information as soon as we are in a position to do so. We regret the continuing uncertainty, but unfortunately we cannot finalise our position at this time.

In addition, as explained in our update of 22 August 2013, we have been considering the liability of HD Administrators LLP in relation to those investments in Arck LLP which were held in the HD SIPP. Our investigations in respect of these claims are ongoing.

FSCS will provide further updates regarding claims relating to Arck LLP and HD Administrators LLP as soon as we can provide more information.

@scabby – who said anything about a civil case? 2000 investors filing complaints and action relating to the crime of fraud would be fairly compelling and something Ames may wish to avoid. I suspect it is coming to him anyway as you just cannot get away with fraud on that scale, but think others who are seen to support/protect this would consider this alternative.

Otherwise, based on the application I have seen, 24 people would have frozen the Buccament Bay land.

24 CLC clients get what 2000+ clients want. No way would I stand by and let that happen to my clients.
”

That comes across as a deliberate ‘spoiler’ tactic to derail the oppositions case. RL don’t want anyone else jumping the queue when they have their own ‘solution’ to promote. Nothing to do with justice, just commercial considerations. Harlequin seems to be so toxic that it corrupts all who come into contact.

I don’t think anyone who invested in this is in a position to call anyone else stupid. To invest was stupidity beyond compare, and stupidity comes at a cost. GF being involved with Ames is a path he has chosen for investors. It would have made more sense to be more aggressive with Ames to back him into a corner so he had to make available all assets and accounts to the group being put together by RL. I accept though that this is just an opinion which may not be correct. What is more than opinion is that recovery of any money is only going to come from selling off of assets or redress claims. The business is not going to create new wealth or increased value over what is there now, to believe otherwise is continued stupidity. To get more value would require massive investment in product and marketing which is not going to happen in current circumstances. Those with cautions will get paid first, many have been saying for a couple of years now that getting cautions is the first thing investors should be doing, and many have been doing so for a while. It is extremely cheap to do this, but you get yourself in the line for recovery of monies. A contract has been breached, you have rights under contract, and ultimately you can force asset sale to recover funds.

What a soap opera….. Cant believe that so much energy is being spent on this trust that has no value whatsoever until Ames puts all his assets into it.. The longer this drags on the worse it will be for investors. At the end of the day nothing will be left but broken dreams. Can anyone explain if there is any benefits whatsoever with the potential trust. I can only see more headache and more losses for investors.
Give it up and let a liquidator sort out the mess

There are still assets – Blu is there, land is there. They do all have cautions on them for the very reasons outlined above. You need some balls, a good lawyer and money to force that liquidation. Or, you would do it with a number of others to reduce cost. Obviously, RL have put those investors together to form a trust to get control of the assets that way. It is not what I would have done, and not what most local lawyers would have advised for recovery of their client’s deposit. To try to work with the very people who put you in this mess is just plain wrong on many levels, including practical ones, as is being borne out.

In my experience, for investors to go after those personal assets you have to show intent to defraud. Often this is difficult. In this case however, it does not seem difficult to show intent to mislead or defraud due to the massive amount of documented lies and inaccuracies in so many of his communication both written and recorded, and the lack of any kind of obligatory reporting due, and of course as they were selling properties on land not owned or where there was planning permission. It would very easily be proven that Ames was de facto in control, even if not a director, of all things Harlequin – he is recorded telling people he owns Harlequin, he launched the resorts, launched the sales programs, sales training, is the one that meets the ministers etc etc. Going after the land assets is a straightforward process, and I suspect also would be more than possible to go after personal assets. Still need those balls, money and a decent lawyer. You had the first two when the investor group was formed – the decent lawyer part I don’t think you have, but proof will be in the ultimate results and I could be wrong.

Has anyone, apart from maybe the inner core of Harlequinistors, not bitterly regretted the day they ever met a member of the Ames family? Which individual or organisation has not been utterly trashed by association with them?

Were there ever any investors in Hotel Blu? Or was it just bought with investors money? – typical of the absurd business model which the Ames’ have pursued. As all of the ‘noise’ on here seems to be coming from RL/Harlequin ‘supporters’ I would assume that it is they who are in trouble, as you can usually guarantee that when HP supporters squeal they, like all pigs, are in the sh..

The irony is that if the H Hotel project had been run by someone who knew what they were doing (and to a sensible plan) it would probably have turned a profit. As it is it’s just another part of the whole delusional mess that Ames created. Trust/rescue plan – call it what you will, it is no more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. No amount of late stage fiddling and fudging will save what was fatally flawed from the very beginning.

Isn’t the fact that Ames family took over £4mil in dividends (much more in total) fraud? A company can only pay dividends out of profits. To best of my knowledge Harlequin never ever made a real profit. They just took in more of investors money than they spent!

Isn’t the fact that Ames family took over £4mil in dividends (much more in total) fraud? A company can only pay dividends out of profits. To best of my knowledge Harlequin never ever made a real profit. They just took in more of investors money than they spent!

Crooked Brits caught in Barbados falsely claiming armed robbery at their Sandy Lane Villa..Hope they brought a supply of vasaline! The robbery made news in many UK newspapers,no doubt causing alarm and worry amongst travelers and investors…their arrest and conviction however, has not been reported in the UK.Good job Royal Barbados Police Force.

You have to admit, though, they do look like they would have $34million in jewellery, so maybe their storey is not that false…rolmfao

Should have read the Matt Ames book of scams first….oh you did….ahh that’s where you went wrong its the Dave & Carol Ames book of scams….I do hear that GF is releasing an updated version….how to be a solicitor and scam people

Both parties have apparently agreed the terms of the consent order. The order needed Mr. Ames input as it is a consent order. Mr. Ames unfortunately was called away on urgent business in the US and could not be contacted, therefore the judge adjourned the case for 7 days to allow the consent order to be perfected. The parties are due back in Court next Wednesday to have the order signed off.

Apparently Gareth Fatchet has been keeping some very important facts from investors. Mr. Fatchet’s plan for the trust was basically scuppered by the PM of St. Vincent, hence the need to have the trust established under UK law. Mr. Fatchet has also refused to inform investors of the 20 + Judgements obtained against Harlequin in St Vincent and the applications now to enforce these judgements.
Such is the anger towards Harlequin that there is to be the equivalent of a full parliamentary debate in St. Vincent on the issue next week.
Issues to be covered include Matt Ames and his involvement in Harlequin. The current litigation, judgements, cautions, tax owing, outstanding creditor payments, etc etc.

Anon:7:53 – Other than i-witness-news-svg it does not seem that
there is any investigative reporting allowed in SVG. The Peter Binose
postings on BFP and Caribbean News Now are invaluable to filter
through the agitprop of the Gonsalves regime. Should there be an
honest and open debate in the SVG parliament I would think that
things vis-a-vis Buccament is in sight. Surely Gonsalves must
realize what an albatross David Ames is.

I should hardly think it would be Gonsalves. He’s up to his neck in
it. Too bad that there isn’t a young feckless lawyer on SVG who
wants to go for the “big kahune”. All the islands are governed by
“leaders” who are still in the late 1980’s/90’s. One reason why
their economies are stagnant.

If anyone is in any doubt that Fat Matt Ames, the convicted fraudster, has been involved with Harlequin Property recently, just check out this picture he tweeted in October 2013, of himself and X Factor Star Stacey Solomon, at what looks like, the Harlequin Offices.

I am not sure why posters are stating that CLC lost their case. This is simply not true. Mr. Peter Knox QC and Mr. Heflin Rees were told by the judge to agree the terms of a consent order. The terms were agreed but Mr. Rees QC pointed out to the judge that he was unable to confer with his client Mr. Ames on the issue of costs to be paid by his client and to be lodged with the court. The judge has simply adjourned the matter for 7 days by which time he expects Mr. Heflin Rees QC to have located Mr. Ames. It was pointed out to the judge that Mr. Ames was on urgent business in the US and was uncontactable. If Mr. Ames cannot be contacted within the next 7 days the judge will make the order.

This is exactly what happened in the High Court Queens Bench Division today.

1. Secret Ledger ‏@secret_ledger 23h
@TimBushLondon This is what I mean about accountants: no-one ever blows the whistle.
@secret_ledger Spot on. Accountants could not blow the whistle even if you put one in their mouth and hit them in the goolies.
1. Jeremy Newman ‏@jwgn 2h
@TimBushLondon @secret_ledger Ahem. I did. I’d not recommend it. Professional suicide
1. Secret Ledger ‏@secret_ledger 2h
2. @jwgn @timbushlondon … agree that you were anonymous and I respect that.
3. Jeremy Newman ‏@jwgn 2h
@secret_ledger @timbushlondon Not that anonymous – I was sued for libel

the accounts for HPSSE or whatever should have been posted at co house but I don’t think they were…that offence would merit an order banning being a director…but ames seems to have, foe now, got away with it….sure once the house starts to fall it will fall ahrd

I am sorry for not allowing your 24 clients to nip ahead of my group. I had to provide a statement as I wanted to make sure the court knew the situation.

I do know about the cautions etc. It will be all be published in our due diligence report. We only issued the last batch of Terms of Business last week. Therefore, we have only been working on this since then.

We seek a collegiate way of working with all parties. Having a war achieves nothing as you have just found out.

If that means you want to post under “anonymous” continually, then that is a matter for you. I am disappointed on a personal level as we have shared ideas /information etc over the last year.

It would be s hoot if Gareth Fatchett did actually write such a letter to Mrs. Crozier. Alas he didn’t.

But on a more serious note he made a statement earlier today on his forum that was wholly misleading.
Gareth Fatchett is a second rate lawyer who is trying to coerce investors into giving up all rights to sue Mr. Ames.
One has to assume Mr. Fatchett read all the documents in Harlequin’s evidence bundle before writing a witness statement in support of Harlequin.
Now Garreth as a lawyer what assets are being placed in the trust ?
How many investors want the trust as proposed by you to proceed, ? please for the purposes of this exercise count the SIPP trustees as investors ie Guardian and Rowanmore etc.
How many investors have instigated legal action ?
How many have obtained cautions ?
How many fee paying clients in this matter do you have ?

I don’t pretend to know all the ins and outs and can’t learn much here really. But I will tell you this- Nikki Crozier kicked me out for the group prior to “signing up” for asking too many questions! I think I’m relived now.

Why can’t everyone just wait for the court order next Wednesday. It will be a court order and will explain everything for once and for all.
This conjecture and comment on conjecture is ridiculous. If CLC have won this action, then that is fantastic news for the 24 clients. Ames and Gareth Fatchet are adamant the trust is proceeding so great news there too. And since Ames and Fatchett have seen the letter of intent from financiers there will be enough cash all round. So what is the big deal ?

I wish Simon Taylor would stop using the word muppet, it’s doing my head in.
Saw Simon Taylor in court, I thought the police and SFO were looking for him. He was in court, he was the taller slimmer guy with boyish good looks who constantly looked back at the claimants and smiled. The portly little guy sitting beside him, who looked like he pretended to know what he was doing is Dan Abrhams, child in house solicitor for Harlequin and replacement for that bent solicitor Simon Terry.

Simon Taylor was a professional golfer but tragically had his career cut short at the age of about 12. Like the rest of the Ames / Harlequin mob he is a prolific liar and absolute fantasist. He was also a very close friend of Matt Ames. He likes young girls and indulges in prostitutes on a regular basis when traveling.

What a pity you did not refer to the TA review which followed it. 5* review!. the only problem was with our friend LIAT again. Although to be fair to the review quoted above, Paddys drains get a mention again.
Open message to Essex plod, going out for a couple of hours so no point in calling in till after 3 today. Mind how you go lol.

When was ICE Group removed from site ? Oh yeah nearly 4 years ago. And Ames 4 years ago knew there was no drainage. Yet are posters now trying to say this has not been repaired lol. Nearly 4 years later lol.
The pro Harlequin mob are just being ridiculous lol.

Whilst it’s good that the resort seems to be getting busier, it sounds like it’s overcrowded with only 150 villas built. Yet thousands of people are still to be given property. Common sense tells you that that can’t happen…so what then? And of the 150 that are being sold, are they in the hands of investors or the property of Ames? If they are being occupied by paying guests then they are obviously complete and should have been handed over years ago to investors who should be seeing their return….like Bob is.

Well Sid- I expect a property audit fir the entire Harlequin network of companies in the RL DD. In my case I can only see the Trust working if a consolidated business plan was developed where all, or al least most investors receive a “fraction” mortgage free. The old model of leveraging in anything up to 70% is unrealistic.

Bob 36 I was referring to the latest review “Don’t be taken in by the flash website & brochure 5* it’s not”.

One would have thought that the drains should be in good working order at a five star resort. That is one STINKER of a review. I expect that Damage Limitation will be along quite soon posting some more gushing and over-effusive reviews to push it down the list.

There are some who still believe that something can be rescued from Harlequin. The trust is over. Harlequin will be liquidated.

The trust has received a mortal blow this week. More on Gareth Fatchets faux paux next week. Gareth is not telling us all the whole truth. But it is now time to expose the awful truth about GF and RL and the fact that Ames has been wagging this dog for quite some time now. And if anyone cares to wonder where Mr. Fatchett is, he has taken 10 days off to prepare for the Tokyo marathon at the weekend.

Nice one Garreth, at least you don’t need to pay for any due diligence, you can lift it all from the Harlequin CLC case, or at least cherry pick the bits you want. Well Gareth what goes around comes around. Enjoy the Tokyo Marathon. See you when you get back next week. Hope to see you in a video in your nike running gear.
And please could you stop removing posts from your blog site, it gives the impression you are trying to hide something.

@ Richard Specter, you have many questions to answer working with a criminal like Ames. Same to you Hefin Rees. We like those from Harlequin who want answers from Chris Corney want answers from you guys. We demand answers.

We would like to know Gareth how many of your 2000 Harlequin clients asked you to do a witness statement for Mr. Ames who after all caused this mess. We have asked you to recover our money. Not have a love in with the Ames family. Do you do this with all the crooks you hope to recover something from.

@where did all the towels go..
That is a pretty poor review…I would be surprised if Harlequin does not get it taken down. It does not seem to have been made up either, as are many of the super positive “reviews” that are posted.It seems honest, and written by someone who was truly disappointed with the whole experience at BB.
“Paddys drains” were caused because Mr Ames supposedly gave Paddy $50 million to build the resort..Without a written contract!
Who does he blame for the eyesore H hotel wreck in Barbados..Paddy?…no it was that incompetent guy at H Studio that messed up.
Harlequin=Jokers..

CPC Worldwide is run by a woman who faces many charges in Spain for running away with 2 million plus euros of ex pats money and is now behind this company. Her real name is Audrey Dixon and she now uses the alias Elizabeth Crozier. Check her out online. This company is meant to be retrieving money fro investors in Harlequin and yet is run by a complete scammer. You investors need to know the truth behind this company. Check her out on google. Former owner of Oasis Spanish Properties. If she ever returns to Spain she faces 11 years in prison.

@Yatinkiteasy, you really make me howl, any negative post on HP is genuine, while a positive one is by a HP troll. Unbelievable. The fact is your “negative” reviewer, who has only ever posted 1 review on TA, gave the resort 5 stars for location, sleep quality, cleanliness and 4stars for the reviews seems to escaped you. What a surprise.
The poster below, who is supposidly a HP plant, has travelled around the world to many varied destinations. Think I would rather take his advise than a first time TA contributor.
Re “Paddys drains” yes he did give him $50m under advise from his “mate” MacDonald, who was really Paddys mate. No excuse for not having a contract, but their is even less excuse for taking advantage.
Yatinkeasy = one eyed.

It stopped for the same reason the projects in Dominican Republic ,St Lucia Merricks Barbados and Buccament Bay stopped…The ponzu scheme ran out of new investors. Money stopped coming in. That`s how all Ponzi schemes eventually stop.
Matt tried it, but it did not work…daddy did it on a much larger scale.

Given that nearly 200 positive reviews were removed by TA I think that there is every reason to be highly suspicious of these latest ones, especially as they seem tailored to addressing issues such as the flooding and put that in a positive light. Why would a guest who had paid to stay at BB post a negative review (with so much detail) if it did not reflect the reality. Not likely to have much of a motive to do that. However, in the past many of the positive reviewers have been shown to be investors, travel agents and professional travel bloggers so plenty of vested interests there.

Anyone familiar with the resort knows that it is getting very tired and shabby round the edges and needs a major refurb already. Most of the Americans staying recently have been comped as part of a sweetener to push the hotel in the US market.

GF statement on the side of Ames shows who he is working for/with clearly. I would not be comfortable knowing he supports the person who did this. Can you see Madoff being supported by his clients’ lawyer?
Who actually owns H Hotel, Blu, the planes?
Whether BB is a good hotel or not at this point is really less relevant to the size of the fraud going on. A sight of the accounts would be good though. Hotels generally doing ok in the region at the moment, the competition of new Sandals in Barbados and Grenada would massively impact on BB one would think, as both market themselves as high end all inclusives, albeit BB welcomes children and families. That family market though is dead outside of school holidays. The attraction of an ex footballer or rugby player or west end singer will not draw in couples looking for a romantic holiday – that concept is up there as one of the most misguided and expensive ploys.

CATOTD – why would you want to hear from Dave Ames? His word has no credibility. Even in better times he was telling bafflingly provable lies. In bad times, he will say anything. It is barely worth listening to the lawyer for the investors who is working to protect Ames. You need a local lawyer to enforce a local contract, that is the only way to get your protection of that contract. You really don’t need to ask about investor funds anyway, proof is there for you. 9000 units sold, 100 or so built, nothing started on the new build projects, and the renovation one standing still. There is therefore obviously no money left of the investor funds, it has gone. When over half was paid out in commission, and the rest obviously mismanaged with investments in planes and lifestyle and loans to the Ames, as well as cashflowing a resort that according to Harlequin was losing US$1m per month, you can see where it went.

Funny thing in the past when Ames had any type of victory he would send a letter to all his investors, and crow. So why the silence Mr. Ames ? It would be easier for Ames to find the 24 claimants and shoot them. What is Mr. Ames afraid of ? All will be revealed on Wednesday. ALL . Do you honestly believe the incessant attacks against the claimants and their legal team does anything to diminish their resolve. Why not wait for Wednesday. ?
Then everything will be in the public domain. And I think everyone will be very surprised by the outcome of last weeks events.
The panic in the Ames camp is being graphically illustrated by posters on this site led by Mr. Simon Taylor, who was present in the court last week.

Tonight Mr. Fatchett on the RL website gave further reasoning for producing a witness statement in support of the defendants. What is glaringly obvious is his apparent attempt to mislead investors who are members of his forum and clients of his.

He states that the CLC clients were a minority and given that he had a majority of clients he felt compelled to produce a witness statement.

His witness statement however claims he represents 2000 investors which he calls clients. This is 33% of Harlequin clients even by Mr. Fatchett’s own numbers quoted in the past. So this can hardly be called a majority.

The worrying aspect for Mr. Fatchett’s clients is that he appears to be treating his clients like proverbial mushrooms.

Keeping them in the dark and keep feeding them shit springs to mind.

Mr. Fatchett would have also seen the documentation provided by Harlequin and CLC to the court, yet strangely has failed to bring the contents of these documents to the attention of his clients.

He claimed in his High Court witness statement to represent 2000 Harlequin clients. The assumption must be that in some way he is acting on direction from his clients, as such he should make available to his clients all the documentation produced in the case.

The Witness Statement produced in court gives the court the distinct impression that Mr. Fatchett is acting on the instructions of his 2000 clients.

Mr. Fatchett has been given sight of other documents including a letter of intent for external finance, yet he claims that because of an NDA he is unable to provide any details pertaining to this, yet if he is acting for 2000 clients surely his clients should have been given sight of these particular documents and any NDA should have applied to his 2000 clients.

So I do have to ask are the 2000 investors actual true clients of Mr. Fatchett in real legal terms.

What strikes me as strange is that an NDA is a legal restriction and
has to be sanctioned by a court of law. My question is what court of
law would issue an NDA for a Letter of Intent. Its just too convoluted
to understand. Especially since in and of itself a Letter of Intent has
no legal standing. Please someone explain to me.

A recent poster on here stated that the Judge in Matt Ames’s case refused the defendants application to vary his bail conditions and the poster further stated that Matt Ames was out on bail.

This might happen on Planet Ames but here on Planet Earth it is rather different.

On Planet Earth in a case such as young Matthews the defence would seek to vary the bail conditions for the convicted defendant pending his sentence. The application to vary the bail conditions could include the provision of an independent surety and acceptance that the convicted offender surrender his passport and sign on at his local police station on a regular basis pending his sentencing hearing.

In young Matthews case this application was denied by the judge and Young Matthew was remanded pending his sentencing hearing.

The practice on Planet Ames is somewhat different. In the example of young Matthews case, the same application would be made by the defendants lawyers, they would seek to limit his original bail conditions which allowed him to travel abroad for work.

The judge as a matter of routine would deny the application to vary, allowing young Matthew to freely travel around the universe including traveling to his favorite Banana Republic where it’s leader had provided him with a character reference and an offer of sanctuary.
In planet Ames the judge would tell young Mattie that he would be sentencing him for upto 10 years in March but till then would wish young Matthew a safe trip on his travels, saying to young Mattie that he was looking forward to seeing him in four weeks.

Now Hefin Rees QC, Mr. Fatchett was not the one who stated that now was he. ?

Perhaps that was concocted by your client.

Or was that the first draft issued to your witness, you maybe getting confused, am not surprised, god knows how many multiple differing witness statements you drafted for different candidates. Must be hard to keep up. Cant blame Simon Terry for this.

I see Dan Abrhams is potentially preparing to take the torch from Ricky. Another young career destroyed perhaps.????????

Planet of the Ames is indeed a strange place indeed it is considered by some to be some type of parallel universe.

The Ames tribe are the predominant tribe on the planet, comprised of humanoid featured beings who communicate via what some call a dialect not un similar with a form of dialect found close to the coast East of London on planet Earth. Most of their dialect is made up of unintelligible ramblings.

The hierarchy is decided through a competition held every 5 years, we have nothing like it on planet Earth with the exception possibly of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival held in the Republic of Scotland, a desolate land, close to the arctic circle on planet Earth.

Those who are chosen to lead the tribe and control the planet must demonstrate an absolute manic ability to fantasise and to indeed live those fantasies. The Chief of the tribe then gets to choose his breeding partner from a selection of the most grotesque and brutish looking females on the planet. Inbreeding is quite common and most acceptable on planet of the Ames.

Victory is not celebrated in Planet of the Ames rather losses are. For example when Planet of The Ames were knocked out of the first round of the Universe Cup, the Tribal leader gave all the inhabitants of the Planet a two week national Holiday. And ordered celebrations of a magnitude unheard of anywhere else in the Universe.
One would be greatly mistaken for assuming they had won the Universe Cup Final.

The bulk of the inhabitants are made up of creatures with little or no intelligence, it is impossible to compare them to even the most basic life forms on earth, scientists have after studied and compared single cell organisms on Earth to the creatures which inhabit Planet of the Ames and have deduced that the single cell organisms are far more advanced in every way.

The creatures on Planet of the Ames appear to accept everything the leader fantasises about like programmed inanimate robotic forms. To describe the creatures as living a life of servitude is an under statement.

The leader of the Planet of The Ames, recently attacked a neighbouring planet, 90% of his forces were destroyed the remaining balance captured and sodomised. The attack was a total defeat and the losses staggering yet in typical Planet of the Ames Fantasy, the loss was celebrated with great gusto and preceded by weeks of extravagant victory celebrations.

Scientist from Earth have studied the creatures of Planet of the Ames. They worship and adore a God called Dave. Worshipping him with total abandon.

Legend has it that the God Dave was formed out of a brown gooey smelly substance not dissimilar to what emanates from the rear end of a bull here on planet earth, bull’s shit. His wife the Goddess Carol was created from the larvae of the flies that called this brown gooey smelly substance home or so legend has it.

Heh Ricky Hefin Rees QC says solicitors can represent who they want. Bet you will never want to represent Ames or Harlequin again. 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
Maybe you should have considered joining Fatchet San in Tokyo. Conichiwah Garreth. Sayanora Ricky my old buddy. Sayanora lol 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

We note from your forum that you once again deride the postings here on BFP.

You wonder why we remain anonymous. We do so because our good friends on BFP allow us the freedom to post.

If we were not anonymous you would seek to injunct us as you did tailormade. Once bitten, twice shy as they say.

You on the other hand have sought to police your forum and remove any contentious posts soon after they appear. Luckily we have grabbed screen shots of all these posts including the in excess of 20 you removed in the past 24 hrs.

There is no other way of putting this. You are a lying, duplicitous little shit. But rest assured, we will demonstrate this. We are surprised you have not mentioned the cautions on your forum. Of course as a result of these cautions, you know the trust cannot proceed.

We have known about these for months. Indeed we warned you that you were not the only game in town. But in the interests of your clients (the Ames family) you chose not to listen.

You have basically conned 2000 investors out of £400,000 + VAT and for what. Your trust CANNOT go ahead. Please explain this to your clients and explain why you feel it necessary to tell us how urgent the trust is, take our money and then fuck off to Tokyo so you can run in a marathon.

It will be our absolute pleasure to expose you further for the lying, greed and gross incompetence you have clearly demonstrated.

Harlequin are panicking, to the point it is now becoming alarming.
Harlequin were not victorious this week in any way, had they been we would all have known. That is one thing Harlequin do well, they communicate good news to all their investors.

Gareth Fatchett was wrong. He in the eyes of most conflicted himself. His arguments do not read true compared to the full facts presented to the court. But he knows this. This can also be seen through the cull of posts on his forum over the last 24 hours. Has Mr. Fatchett been damaged by this.? Yes of course.

Mr. Fatchett lied on his own website last night. He claimed he represented the majority of investors, he does not, nor did he state that through his statement to the court. So investors need to ask themselves why he lied to them.
The assets to be placed in the trust have been spelt out to the court. Why has Mr. Fatchett not informed his 2000 clients of what these assets are ?

The Trust. Can the trust go ahead today ? In simple terms No it cant. Unless Mr. Fatchett is suggesting that investors should be happy to take a 3rd charge. Strangely enough and probably what will disgust many is that Dave Ames through Harlequin Hotels and Resorts has taken out cautions on his own properties.

Gareth Fatchett will come unstuck when the full details of the case become known. And his involvement in it.

Nikki Crozier. The incessant attack on Mrs. Crozier are typical of Harlequin. But if Mrs. Crozier has done something illegal and Harlequin through their trolls have been claiming this for months the question has to be asked why have Harlequin not reported this to the Police. And why now on the week of the CLC action are Harlequin becoming manic about it.?

I suspect there are a few intelligent people in the Harlequin camp feeling very uncomfortable about the all the posts. Ames and his mob are running riot. Some others associated with Harlequin know that their association with Harlequin is about to come to a sudden end and their careers might very well be on the line.

In that time I have been accused of being, Mr. Newman, Mrs. Broughton, the Irish Builder, Mr. Man and now Mrs. Crozier amongst others.

Well I am not.

I am me. Plain and simple. I am me.

Goodbye Mr. Fatchett, Fairwell, your career is going to come to a sudden halt. You should contemplate sticking to marathon running or visiting the Ames’s in prison. Hope your PI cover is adequate, you just cannot tell what little gems are going to come flying out next week.

Ironic that you do a witness statement for Ames in the same few weeks that you sit with BBC panorama and attack your mate Ames. There certainly is no accounting for taste.

David and Carol, I have recently signed my witness statement for the SFO as have many many others. I am sorry David, I very much doubt you and Carol will get to spend another Christmas with Matthew.

Carol I see you have been taking this badly, you will only be on suicide watch for about a week once incarcerated, after that you will have all the time in the world to do as you please. But please don’t do it till you have been convicted and found guilty. Allow us watch you go through that at least.

Had Matt been contemplating suicide, can you tell us how down he is feeling, you must be devastated, what’s it like knowing you may never see your son again by the beach or in the park, down by your ducks, together running playing with the kids.

Will you miss your grand children. I think they will not want to know much about you.

I suppose Prison Dave will protect you from those who are looking to dispense justice their own way. Will you miss Carol and your family???

Will you miss the grand kids ?

They were good times while they lasted and the money was rolling in. I’m talking about the last few years when you were walking on air. Probably the same hot air that was coming out of your lying mouth.

What does it feel like to know it will all be torn from you a third time eh?

You know this is it. No more chances, are you like Carol contemplating suicide, best not do it before Carol and you are convicted. Give your victims a chance at attending your trial and watching justice being served. Please at least give us that. You took everything else away from us so give us that at least.

So Anonymous is nasty for writing that one post. Please can you tell me how you would describe Mr. Ames given that his actions have driven hundreds to despair and ruin. Hmmmm what words should be used to describe Mr. Ames and his family ?

Victims ? Heros ? Philanthropists ? Prudent Business people ? Cmon its time you guys spelt it out.

Mr. Fatchett had a choice in submitting a witness statement on behalf of Mr. Ames. He did not confer with his so called 2000 clients. He therefore was not acting on instructions. He claims to have seen the arguments put forward by the defendants barristers and this is what spurned him to submit a witness statement.

The question from a legal perspective is why did he have sight of the claimants pleadings prior to the case,when as he states he neither acts for Harlequin, any of the Harlequin Group of companies or indeed any members of the Ames family. Neither does he act for any of the claimants. Yet in order to decide on making a witness statement for the Ames family he first had sight of the claimants documents.

He refers to this in his statement on the RL blog. But surely he would also have seen the defendants statements as they pertained to the trust and he would have seen that they were wholly conflicted with his version of events.Yet he fails to raise issue with this.

And why when similar questions were asked of Mr Fatchett on the RL blog site did he see fit to have those questions removed?

I can’t understand how cautions can apply in the UK under these circumstances? I’m really perplexed as to how they can apply to land in the Caribbean et al- anything not subject to UK land registry rules? Can anyone explain?

21st February 2014 – Update
All,
FSCS Surgeries
We have a very full week at The Village Hotel, Warrington next week. If you want to discuss your FSCS form, the trust or any other related issues, please call Rebecca Handley on 01384 889900.
FSCS Surgeries – Midlands / Southern Venues
We will be publishing these very shortly. Please watch our website for updates.
Terms of Business / Due Diligence Process
We have issued our terms of business to all clients. As we receive new clients, we will issue terms of business on a rolling basis. We are now fully into our due diligence process. We are not going to comment on the due diligence process piecemeal. We intend to deliver the due diligence process as a complete piece of work. We will invite comments and corrections.
We cannot rely on hearsay, rumour or innuendo. Nor do we place any store in “anonymous” posters on other forums. If third parties have something to inform us, they can formally engage with us. To rely on “anonymous” third parties is dangerous, particularly as there is a reason they post without identity in the first place.
High Court Action
During this week, we provided a witness statement to the High Court for a hearing on Tuesday relating to David & Carol Ames. Our statement confirmed to the court that the trust process is proceeding. Harlequin’s lawyers also put a statement into court in relation to the trust. We provided our statement to confirm the position in relation to the trust. We took the view that the court understanding the position from all sides was in the interests of justice. We are not party to the proceedings in court. Nor do we act for any of the parties. Therefore, we see little point in commenting further at this point.
SIPP
We will be liasing with SIPP providers (who hold Harlequin) to seek a way in which we can allow them access to our due diligence findings. We will keep investors updated as we progress.
Pink Forms
Please be in contact if you have not lodged your Pink Form(s) with us. Harlequin hold a significant number of forms. Some investors clearly assume that this is sufficient. It is not. We need the Pink Forms to make you a client of our firm.
Conclusion
We are progressing forward. As we do, we expect those who wish to see Harlequin fail increase their activities. The side effect of any Harlequin failure will be a total loss for investors. This is not in the interest of any investor. Investors need to secure their position as best they are able. To that end, we will continue with the work we have been instructed to do.
Regulatory Legal Solicitors
Visit Harlequin Investor Group – protecting investors at: http://harlequininvestorgroup.co.uk/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

A witness statement is exactly that. A statement made by a witness to a set of facts.

The GF version will be his take. He does not need to consult anyone to make a statement (other than himself). He is not a party to proceedings. Nor does he represent anyone. He does not need to consult with 2000+ people.

It makes a good story and a deflection from the real issues. RL have made it clear where they stand. You can disagree with that. Some will, some won’t.

The point is that it does not matter. The actual witness statement of GF has not been published here or anywhere else. The people who have seen it are :-

(a) Harlequin / Harlequin lawyers
(b) CLC / CPC
(c) Court

I doubt Harlequin will attack GF / RL. That leaves CLC / CPC to spend all their time attacking. All that this does is encourage people to make personal attacks.

RL may have picked up the issues which anonymous posters refer to on this blog (cautions etc). Is there any evidence they have not ?

The real culprits in this mess are Harlequin and those behind Harlequin. It just so happens that RL do not see a liquidation of Harlequin as the best approach.

This forum is in the main for those either 100% for or 100% against.

I bet that under 50 people post on this site. The RL forum has approx. 3000 people registered to it.

Whatever good points are made on here get lost between You Tube videos, masonic posts, rants and some frankly horrible things.

CATOFTD – Is Ames and out and out fraudster and is everything he said a lie? You just need to look at the evidence to answer that yourself. He promised 10% guarantees, sold properties very cheaply, said he would pay mortgage payments, returns would be massive, resorts built within certain timeframes, the marina at BB was almost ready etc. All of those things have not happened. He has said things that are not true, or could never be true, so yes he is a liar. He did so in order to take your money, and paid that money to himself and his cronies. He did not build, he did not plan to build and in some cases he did not own the land. As he told lies to take your money and then use it for reasons not in your contract, then that would make him an out and out fraudster. So much money was coming in, he had to do something to keep more money coming in so BB was partly built. In whose names are the H Hotel and Blue? Has this been made clear to investors whose money was used? Have you had accounts sent regularly on the performance of the assets that you investors own, namely BB and Blue? And the planes? If you can answer those questions positively for Ames, then he is not a fraudster or liar. If you cannot, then he is a fraudster and a liar.

I see all the RL and GF comments. This route is absolutely not a route I would have taken, but people are paying GF and RL, they are his clients so it is only them who can comment on his performance. He is not doing anything illegal as far as I can see, but he has fallen into the trap of believing Harlequin is not already finished as he keeps referring to people who want to see Harlequin fail. It failed several years ago. His protection of Ames is curious, I am sure whether that is sinister or not will be revealed in the fullness of time.

21st February 2014 – Update
All,
FSCS Surgeries
We have a very full week at The Village Hotel, Warrington next week. If you want to discuss your FSCS form, the trust or any other related issues, please call Rebecca Handley on 01384 889900.

(FSCS, you understand that the FSCS route is what they refer to as a route of last resort, ie, when there is nothing left the FSCS may pay compensation up to a limit of £50,000, the FCA have already indicated that they are not willing to entertain claims and you have stated that you will be looking to appeal this decision, however given that the FSCS scheme is a scheme of last resort how can you make a justifiable last resort claim when you yourself are seeking to enable Harlequin to trade out of it’s current difficulties, you have even stated that you have seen a letter of intent from financiers and know their identity. )

FSCS Surgeries – Midlands / Southern Venues
We will be publishing these very shortly. Please watch our website for updates.

Terms of Business / Due Diligence Process

We have issued our terms of business to all clients.

(All RL clients ???)

As we receive new clients, we will issue terms of business on a rolling basis. We are now fully into our due diligence process. We are not going to comment on the due diligence process piecemeal. We intend to deliver the due diligence process as a complete piece of work. We will invite comments and corrections.

(From who Mr. Fatchett, who will you invite comment and correction from, Mr. Ames?,or investors who are still very much in the dark, for had they known what is to be known about Harlequin now they would never have invested in the first place)

We cannot rely on hearsay, rumour or innuendo.

( Are you stating that the claimants documents as provided to you by Mr. Ames contained hearsay, rumour and innuendo?, are the cautions hearsay rumour and innuendo )

Nor do we place any store in “anonymous” posters on other forums. If third parties have something to inform us, they can formally engage with us.

( Who are you prepared to engage with, in the past you have let it be known that by engaging with certain parties, Mr. Ames would be very displeased with you and you took the decision NOT to engage with certain parties because of this. )

To rely on “anonymous” third parties is dangerous, particularly as there is a reason they post without identity in the first place.

(And what might that reason be, a fear that you would use investors money to seek an injunction preventing the truth from coming out, you have clearly demonstrated your willingness to do this, take Tailormade for example, then you had the audacity to say that action was settled, it was not, Tailormade contested the action and won)

(You are also deliberately stifling debate on the issues on your forum, by culling negative comments, in the past 24 hrs you have removed in excess of 20 comments which were neither offensive nor in contradiction of your forums use policies yet you chose to remove comments raising pertinent questions, they have been saved.)

High Court Action

During this week, we provided a witness statement to the High Court for a hearing on Tuesday relating to David & Carol Ames.

( No not relating to Dave and Carol Ames but in support of their defense and as requested by them )

Our statement confirmed to the court that the trust process is proceeding.

( The trust process is proceeding is a very vague statement, the due diligence should determine the trust process, yes you will state that the due diligence forms part of the process )

Harlequin’s lawyers also put a statement into court in relation to the trust.

( Which was different from your statement, or at least the final draft of your statement),

We provided our statement to confirm the position in relation to the trust. We took the view that the court understanding the position from all sides was in the interests of justice.

(From all sides???, you submitted a witness statement on behalf of the defendants, as you claim you are not a party to the action, this was not a three way case, you do not act for the claimants, so how can you justify your statement here, all sides really Mr. Fatchett ???? )

(You claim on the RL site that you had seen the claimants claim, therefore you would have seen mention of a number of cautions, this would have demonstrated to you that your trust proposals are fundamentally flawed )

( Justice, please Mr. Fatchett, you submitted a witness statement in support of the defense, where 24 claimants are claiming a refund which under the terms of their contracts they are fully entitled to and you claim you provided a witness statement for the defendants and you say it was in the interests of justice? )

We are not party to the proceedings in court.

( Whether you were or not not in the past, you most certainly are a willing participant in the proceedings now, you are a witness for the defense, and as a result could very easily be called to provide evidence in the trial, please Mr. Fatchett as an officer of the court you know how this works. )

Nor do we act for any of the parties. Therefore, we see little point in commenting further at this point.

(The debate has just started Mr. Fatchett )

SIPP

We will be liasing with SIPP providers who hold Harlequin to seek a way in which we can allow them access to our due diligence findings. We will keep investors updated as we progress.

( How have you progressed with Guardian and Rowanmore, as you would have seen from the claimants bundle they have cautions against the Harlequin land assets )

Pink Forms

Please be in contact if you have not lodged your Pink Form(s) with us. Harlequin hold a significant number of forms. Some investors clearly assume that this is sufficient. It is not. We need the Pink Forms to make you a client of our firm.

( You have clearly stated in the UK High court that you act for 2000 investors, 4000 investors have still to give you Pink Forms, clearly that is not really some, now is it Mr. Fatchett.)

Conclusion

We are progressing forward. As we do, we expect those who wish to see Harlequin fail increase their activities. The side effect of any Harlequin failure will be a total loss for investors. This is not in the interest of any investor. Investors need to secure their position as best they are able.
(Would not placing cautions on the land like many others have done been the best option to secure investors positions)

To that end, we will continue with the work we have been instructed to do.

( Given that you now claim to have been instructed by your clients, how come its you, not them, who is covered by an unenforceable NDA with respect to the identity of the financiers and the letter of intent)

(Who instructed you to set up a trust????? Was it not you and RL along with Dave Ames who initially came up with the idea of the trust. )

(Conclusion, Mr. Fatchett was does the trust actually achieve? You will have seen from the defendants documents submitted to the court what assets are being offered into the trust, you would have also seen the issues raised by the claimants in relation to some of these assets, you of course will also see that the assets being offered by the defendants are not as you have indicated in your communication with “Your Clients”
The trust will try and achieve two primary goals, 1. the removal of the threat of litigation against the Ames family and the Harlequin group of companies for good, given the time bar situation, which you have never given answers too,
And 2, the trust will have the affect of writing down the inter company debt to a fraction of the circa 400 million which stands now, in other words the value of the assets owned or paid for investors will become about 2.5% of what they are now.

The only ones to benefit from this are Harlequin and the Ames family, if the debt is written off Shipleys might look favorably upon a CVA.

What benefit is this to investors, some say investors will still have to find a 70% mortgage to complete on properties if indeed they ever get completed, however that is not legally the case, since they will have given up their contractual entitlements for a a few ponds and footpaths being held in the trust, there is nothing to stop Ames from selling investors original properties to new clients. Investors will have as part of the trust given up entitlement to their current plots. Fact. If existing investors want to buy their existing plot, they may have to go through the whole process again, pay a deposit and start over. )

Lets hope some savvy clients of Gareth Fatchett and RL take them up on the points above, and lets hope that others considering the trust as an option, now consider the other options available to them. The best that non trust investors can do to protect their interests is apply for a caution on their respective RDC’s. This is something Mr. Fatchett failed to do. Those with cautions will hold the upper hand and given that Mr. Fatchett seems hell bent on proceeding with the trust, a caution seems like a very sensible way in which to secure your interests. Mr. Fatchett or Mr. Ames would have to negotiate from a position of extreme weakness with those caution holders in order for the trust to proceed.)

@Geoffrey Boycott, very few of the registered users on the RL forum contribute to that site, and many of the registered users are not even investors, you have IP’s the SFO, Police, Lawyers, creditors (non investors), etc. There was a time when the RL site allowed users to see who had joined the forum, many whilst having a keen interest in Harlequin were not investors. BFP do not give figures for those who just browse their site, however it might be interesting to see if they would be able to indicate what hits and spikes their site gets when relevant Harlequin related material is posted on their site, as I write this I am also looking at the RL site and I am not an investor.

Why do the Harlequin supporters i
keep insisting that Mrs. Crozier, CLC or Peter Knox lost, please lost what exactly?, The perfected court order will be available for everyone to see next week. So again please stop filling up this thread with utter nonsense. IF CLC had lost anything Ames would have emailed the world and he has not. Fact. The perfected order will clarify everything.

Whether CLC’s clients are broke or otherwise is a matter for CLC and their clients. A rather odd statement.

What we have been told on numerous occasions is that the Ames’s are broke. Mr. Fatchett has told us many times that the Ames’s are broke. Wonder will Richard Spector have to pay the Ames’s legal costs.

To be fair to Mr. Fatchet, he was approached by Mr. Ames and his legal team and asked to sign a pre written witness statement regarding the trust. Mr. Fatchet refused to sign that particular witness statement because it contained wholly inaccurate information on the trust and he knew by signing it he would be misleading the court.

Given the rather unusual approach made by Harlequin Mr. Fatchet felt compelled to produce a document which fairly represented the facts as they pertained to the court.

He was most certainly not doing it to cause problems for the CLC 24. He felt that Harlequin’s original version relating to the trust needed to be clarified for all to see.

The Judge was conflicted, let me tell you why.
Fatchett is a Mason
Ames is a Mason
Both QC Masons.
When asked to help a fellow brother they have no choice – this is why the Judge threw them all out. He won’t be allowed in on the next case.

@ In defence of Mr. Fatchett 4.32 pm. This is not the first time that Mr. Ames and his legal team are alleged to have falsified witness statements. My question is why would Mr. Fatchett even entertain entering into the fray when he would have seen that the Ames family were willing to lie in court.

If I was a cynic, I’d say the reason why Fatchett did a witness statement for Ames was to get his hands on some juicy info from the claimants.

I suspect that Mr. Fatchett as a witness now has access to all the claimants documents which he can sift through and use or amend dependent on how much he wants the trust to succeed.

A lot of juice for his due diligence paid for of course by the claimants, allowing Gareth to nip off to Tokyo for a marathon. He has been paid by investors to provide due diligence amongst other things, so now he can pocket some of that cash.

I posted several years ago about placing cautions if contracts in breach. Why is it only now people are looking at this? It is always the first port of call in the Caribbean when property contracts are breached. It is not rocket science and it is cheap, and many people did. The concept of the trust really is not helpful to an investor wanting to get his/her money back. Sorry to state a hard truth, but investors were extremely naive investing in Harlequin and Ames, and are demonstrating the same naivety here on an ongoing basis.

Just look at the update today. Fatchett is holding FSCS clinics. The FSCS is the redress of last resort, google it for Gods sake, so how if Harlequin is being saved by the great Fatchett can Fatchett commence last resort applications. For Christ sake, when are people going to wake up to this.

Fatchett keeps stating that some want Harlequin to fail. Ok Fatchett why are you asking your clients to forgo their contracts for a few ponds and footpaths. Harlequin has failed, It needs a CVA to prevent Shipleys LLP from putting the whole damn mess into liquidation.
What do investors get from the trust, probably 2.5%. Nothing more.

I don’t think they will get anything whatsoever from the trust. Joining the trust with thousands of others rather than instigate aggressive litigation against Harlequin (who love a bit of litigation at investors’ expense) actually is the “sit back and do nothing” option.

The trust campaign didn’t change much really. It was always going to be a case of the proactive minority managing to get their investment back through legal action and subject to NDA; and the majority of investors ending up losing everything at the hands of a fraudster. Isn’t that always the way scams go?

I’m going to put my neck out and state that I think the £240 paid to RL for the DD, and subsequent set-up of the trust was a complete waste of money.

The trust is proceeding, we have a mandate, please let there be no more discussion on the matter. We are going ahead with the trust. Those with cautions are just trying to cause Harlequin to fail. Those who question the trust want it to fail. But they are a minority. Justice will prevail. Justice for the Ames family will prevail. They will be exonerated. No need to look at the historical issues, no need to rake up the past, no need for due diligence. Note to the caution holders, we will challenge the cautions, we will win, and we will then pursue you for the rest of your assets. You will not interfere with the trust.

Gareth Fatchett originally stated he had stat demands, he did not. He took a case in the High Court in the UK against Harlequin and lost on jurisdictional grounds, but both sides kept that quiet. He claimed he won a case for a group of his clients, Ames undertook to give Fatchett’s clients some of the assets in Dubai. Shipleys scuppered that little deal.

So all in all Fatchett has achieved the square root of sqwat diddly for his clients yet has taken a cool 400k from them in fees.

There are cautions in SVG and 22 judgements to date against Harlequin.

Your contract gets breached, so rather than demand money back via local lawyers and place cautions, you join a trust with thousands of others to get security of some common areas, and at same time give up rights to pursue the other party on that contract. A very very passive approach to being scammed.

The barrister Mr. Rees QC named in this weeks high court case in London as suing Wilkins Kennedy for $50 Million USD is a Mr. Jacob Dean QC,

5RB are Mr. Dean’s chambers and they specialize in entertainment and media law. Mr. Dean QC was the barrister representing Harlequin in the recent arbitration over Harlecon.

Harlequin are claiming that they are suing Wilkins Kennedy for professional negligence, not one of Mr. Dean’s QC specialities nor is it a speciality of 5RB, Mr. Dean’s chambers.

Two weeks ago Harlequin filed documents with Wilkins Kennedy seeking arbitration, so why was Hefin Rees QC stating to the judge that Harlequin were taking Wilkins Kennedy to the High Court in the UK to start a civil law suit for the recovery of $50 Million USD.

This is a huge case, why has this not hit the news papers or the trade magazines?

Why are HMSSE refusing to take part in the action given that Ames claims that his case is a slam dunk. Shipley’s LLP are fully entitled to join the action, why haven’t they, Indeed why did they refuse to join the action in the Harlecon case previous to this. $50 Million is a hell of a lot of money, especially given that it is a “Slam Dunk Case”

4. Re: Why are reviews re Buccament Bay so disparate?
today, 20:09
I am an investor with BB and am experiencing a few problems re my quarterly payments with the company. However having stayed at BB some nine times since their opening i cannot fault the resort and the running of it at all.

At the end of the day i would rather receive my payment late in order for a bill to be paid at BB and see the resort continue to operate to a high standard.

Individual tastes and expectations seem to dictate as to a good or bad review.

Its a fabulous place which i recommend wholeheartedly. I am back for another three weeks in august and as long as the place continues to run and be a success i am happy to wait for my return.

Disappointed investor – after proof, pay a local lawyer to take a copy of land register. There are cautions, I have seen them on one piece of land, but did not take copies. That piece of land is going to sell for a fraction of what was paid for it as it is pretty bad land and Ams overpaid, as he did for everything he bought. Not directed at you, but lots of investors still want “proof” of things – do they need proof too that construction has not started on any of his other developments than BB? Investing in property overseas is not like buying blue chip stocks. Got to do your own DD. Now they still have a third party UK lawyer taking money to set up a trust with minimal security to then do DD.

Yes why are people still sitting back and asking for proof. Fatchett appears unwilling to do as “instructed” by his “clients”, that is to carry out the most basic of “Independent” due diligence.
The cautions have been in place for some time now. Ironically Mr. Ames himself has a number of cautions on the lands. Yet the saviour of investors appears wholly oblivious to what is going on around him. Gareth Fatchett is a very lazy solicitor. Does not bode well for his clients.

All we get from Gareth Fatchett is nothing more then glossy waffle. He seems more like Ames as each day goes by.

It’s difficult for a normal person with little experience to understand what’s going on . We took the advice of an agent to buy into Harlequin and invested cash and pension money . Of course we understand that we need a lawyer now because after four years we have nothing , our hope was that the trust would get us our money back but from what you are saying it won’t.

Has it yet dawned on the masses that anyone and I mean anyone with any contact with the toxic toad and his family become tainted in one way or another. I know Mr. Fatchett is trying to throw oil on the water by stating that no credence should be paid to anonymous posters, but he knows it is these anonymous posters who are providing the pieces of the jigsaw that otherwise would never have come to the attention of investors. Mr. Fatchett’s greed and belief in Ames appears to have been his Achilles heel, now even he must realise the trust is dead.
But what about all the cash he took, any quick very basic due diligence would have unearthed the cautions on all the lands and would have signalled that the trust could not work.
It’s time Fatchett refunded the cash.

I asked H early last year to put my cabanna up for resale at Buccament bay
as I could not afford to complete, so if another investor completes on my cabanna do I get my resale monies as I notice some idiot on RL Forum saying the money will go to the trust? why would it? surely it is mine?

@ Jane Doe
How are you ever going to know anyone completed on your property, there are no records, that is half the problem with Harlequin, secondly there are a raft of judgements against Harlequin in SVG. This is the subject of a debate in parliament in SVG next week.

But people are completing on cabana’s in the next few weeks? everyone has a unit number so surely the unit belong to someone as per contract? so what happens to the money I have paid? we entered into a legally binding contract so how can someone just come along and buy my cabanna? without my selling it to them? if this happens H have broke the contract? I understand I did but that was because they promised 100% mortgage

The trust on its own could never have had the desired affect that you would have received all your money back.

The assets of the trust and this can be confirmed from this weeks case were to be the common parts of Buccament Bay the 19.5 acres, there was another plot of land in the DR being proposed by Harlequin in addition to the common parts of Buccament Bay, but even if there were no issues with this and there are, then the value of the assets being proposed was 4% of the original monies invested.

Are you a member of the current trust or are you a client of RL?

If so it is time you guys got him to get off his backside and put cautions on all the resorts where his clients have investments. That would do for a start, but it looks like time has run out.

I suppose you guys could ask Fatchett what the hell he is doing swanning around Tokyo when the situation you guys find yourself is so time critical.

@anon9.50 . I have sent my blue form in for redress but not the pink one I am undecided what to do . If I can get my money back from Harlequin I won’t claim against my advisor as he has advised us on financial matters for a while , this is the first problem we have encountered .
I don’t seem to get a straight answer from anyone but we don’t have much time to decide what to do .

If any completions take place in the next few weeks then they will more then likely be illegal. To complete Harlequin must have a certificate of good standing, ie this means audited accounts and taxes up to date etc. and that they can’t get.

Have you had any correspondence from Harlequin with respect to your resale in the last 4 months? You state you have breached your contract, be careful here, You seem to believe that Ames will act honourably, just look at the stance he is taking against the 24 claimants in the UK High Court where Ames is in total breach of his contractual commitments to those 24 investors.

If as you state you are in breach of your contract with Harlequin then I would advise that you seek immediate independent legal advice and not Mr. Fatchett nor CLC.

Jane Doe – Reading between the lines of what has been posted on
BFP for well over a year, i-witness-news.svg, & Caribbean News Now
if I were you I would immediately contact a lawyer in SVG who is also
a member of the opposition party currently serving as a Senator.
Unfortunately corruption seems to be the name of the game. Kind of
like fighting fire with fire. Good Luck!

Over on the RL site Gareth Fatchett again is claiming he has a majority.Remember earlier he also says he is instructed by his 2000 clients. He also states he has the court documents from this weeks case. Produce the documents to your clients Fatchett, produce them. And produce your witness statement. Majority means just that. Your witness statement does not state you have a majority, how could it, it states you have 2000 clients, 33% of the Harlequin total.

Richard Ingham must also have the court documents, his claims that the claimants were looking to secure the completion monies is broadly correct, so Richard please make these available. Richard wants Gareth to push on with the trust.

Mr. Walton Mr. Fatchett commissioned you to provide one or could it have been two reports, maybe its time to come clean.

So lets stop all the sqwaking here and now. Put the documents on the table Garreth, all of them, you are claiming on your site that some of the claims made on this site are untrue. So its time to put this to the test. Produce the documents to disprove what we are saying.

There are cautions on the Harlequin lands. Fact. So please explain how you the trust will now work.

Gareth / Richard get over your selves, your claims over on the RL site that a minority of 24 are trying to bring down the trust are untrue. Look at all the judgements in St. Vincent. Look at all the cautions, look at the Guardian cautions, the Rowanmore Cautions.

Gareth / Richard tell the investors what the assets to be placed in the trust comprise of. You have the court documents. Go on get it over with.

@disappointed investor. Two Rivers. I don’t know many lawyers up in that part of the Caribbean, although know some. Business there is very much done with exchanges of brown envelopes. I would look up a few lawyers in the area and write to a few of them outlining your situation, but probably even better if you go there – there are plenty of cheap holiday packages that you could take and just start visiting law firms. Placing cautions there should be similar to rest of the islands. I do know that it takes serious developers to make it up there, who have own arilines and airlift, tour operators and more. Ames would have been eaten alive there, would never have stood a chance even if it was built, which sadly given the model it never was going to be. Good luck.

For clarity, am the 11.10 anon, will post as anon11 for sake of differentiation, but don’t get to check this site out as much as would like these days. I am based in Caribbean and know a lot of lawyers in the southern and eastern islands (have done business in northern islands and indeed know many people there, none know about Two Rivers) I don’t like to see developers or resorts fail and would always support them, but really this has long since failed and it is now less a case of toppling something and more clearing it all up as best as possible for investors and locals who rely on their business for work. I would not describe Mr Ames as a developer or hotelier having met him a few times, he is more a guy who loved the commissions and really was not so worried about the resorts and how they could get built or operate profitably, got in over his head and the beast snowballed with others around him also filling their pockets and making this beast grow. The story is not dissimilar to the Madoff one, the lie just grew and became his life. It is no excuse though, when Madoff knew things were doomed and should have stopped sooner, and by same token when Ames knew he could never deliver, should have folded up rather than lure more people in. Anyway, sermon over! Everyone has to make their own decisions, best of luck.

Tonight’s little show over on the RL site does demonstrate that investors have no clue what the trust is all about. And Fatchett has again failed to explain it to them. A Richard Ingham believes the completion money is the trusts, sadly that is not the case and here is why.

In the court documents Mr. Fatchett and Mr. Ingham have, if they care to look at the skeleton arguments of the defendants and para 24 and the supporting documentation they will find that the assets to be placed in the trust are the common parts of Buccament Bay. This paragraph also puts beyond doubt that Mr. Fatchett was a willing witness for the Ames family.

Now given that Harlequin are only offering the common parts of Buccament Bay as assets for the trust, and if that is true and correct and we have no reason to doubt this because not only did Mr. Fatchett not question this, his name and witness statement support this particular paragraph as submitted to the court. Then these are the only assets investors will have a claim over.

The sections of the resort where investor units are built are not defined as common parts and as such will not form part of the trust, therefore for Mr. Ingham to state that the completion monies should or will be placed into the trust has no legal standing.

There will be no obligation legal or otherwise whatsoever to account for the completion monies to the trustees of the trust.

But on the RL site even though Mr. Fatchett and Mr. Ingham have the documents from the court they appear to be playing a game for the benefit of the 1999 other clients of RL.

Mr. Ingham is an intelligent gentleman and given that he has the court documents there can be no doubt that both he and Mr. Fatchett are under no illusion as to what assets are to be placed in the trust.

Mr. Ingham whilst claiming he has sight of the court documents wrongly states that the CLC 24 wanted to take the completion money.

Para 34 and 35 of the claimants arguments deals with this specific matter. In fact what the claimants were seeking here would have assisted in securing and securitising assets not only for the claimants but indirectly for Mr. Fatchett’s clients too, including Mr. Ingham.

Again both Mr. Fatchett and Mr. Ingham were playing out a scene akin to a soap opera for the other 1999 clients of RL to lap up.

The documents which Mr. Fatchett and Mr. Ingham have had sight of clearly demonstrate that all is not well with respect to Harlequin.

And the answers investors seek as per the due diligence are contained in these court documents, therefore we are now calling on the remaining 1999 clients of RL to demand that Gareth Fatchet makes these documents available to his clients.
One client Mr. Ingham already has had sight of these documents, it’s now time that these documents are released to the remaining 1999 clients in order that the charade being played out by Mr. Fatchett is seen for what it is, a charade.

To be honest Fatchett has been caught napping and he is making a dogs dinner of the damage limitation. His foes whoever they might be are demonstrating a level of intelligence even Fatchett is finding hard to come